Uncles
by CRose
Summary: Ranma leaves Nerima for a time and ends up finding out that Nabiki has been using him again. Big surprise there. He finds a long lost relitive in Juban who just happens to be the Sailor of Saturn. Behind her come these other girls...
1. Chapter 00 - Revised

"RANMA PREPARE TO DIE!"  
  
Ranma groaned as he turned to see Ryoga flying at him from about 15ft above him, a sigh escaped his lips as he dodged as best he could. Any other day he wouldn't have cared, but Akane had just recently malleted him across the city and he had landed wrong and hurt his back. He knew that in an hour he would have been perfectly fine, but right now he was on an improvised crutch and hobbling home. Ryoga's timing was just plain horrible, but Ranma had grown to expect something like this after over two years in Nerima. Ryoga, as always, was rage impersonalized and was twirling his 700 pound umbrella around like it weighed nothing.  
  
It was immediately obvious to Ranma that he was in serious trouble as he barely dodged Ryoga's attacks. His injuries were worse than he thought passed through his mind as his back screamed in pain and Ryoga's fist impacted with his jaw and sent him flying. He barely registered Ryoga's insane giggling for finally having Ranma at is mercy. Ranma cried out again as he slammed into a wall with enough force to shatter it. This was Akane's fault flashed through his mind just before Ryoga attacked again.   
  
Only his years of training allowed him to launch his body into the air and dodge the umbrella as it shattered the stone where he had been. Ranma's aura flared and he could feel his injuries healing as he landed in a crouch, it would take a while and would leave him a little weak for the next day or two, but Ryoga was out for blood today. The lost boy spun around and launched his Ki charged bandanas at him, but Ranma was prepared this time and ducked under them without noticeable effort. "Why are you attacking me P-chan, I don't have time for you today."  
  
"You've hurt Akane for the last time you bastard!"  
  
"I haven't done anything to the Tomboy lately, what are you talking about?"  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
The hairs on the back of Ranma's neck started to tingle and he launched himself straight up just as Kuno's sword, a real one, slashed right through where his head would have been. He spouted off something, but Ranma ignored it and concentrated on defending himself as they attacked in tandem. He weaved and dodged between the speeding sword of Kuno and Ryoga's pounding attacks, but he was unable to use his full speed as he was still injured and it would have made matters worse. Ryoga suddenly changed the direction of his swing and caught Ranma across the ribs and broke a couple. This left him wide open for Kuno's attack and he slashed through the upper part of Ranma's shoulder.  
  
Ranma went down hard, but rolled to his feet and his vision went red. He had been putting up with more and more savage attacks ever since he had returned from Phoenix Mountain a few months ago. Kuno and Ryoga stopped laughing and backed up as Ranma's aura went from a thin line of blue to an enraged blood red that seemed to dance around him like a halo of impending doom. He rose to his feet and feral grin on his face was all the warning they had as the light seemed to spread out from him in waves of ever increasing power. The stone at his feet shattered and lifted into the air as he started to walk forward. Ryoga knew he was in trouble, this was the power Ranma had shown at Phoenix Mountain and he realized that it was now directed at him and not Saffron. Ranma had blown the mountain into a giant pile of rubble during the fight as well, Ryoga started to sweat.  
  
Kuno on the other hand lived in his own fantasy world and ignored most everything Ranma ever did or said since he was a dishonorable cur in his opinion. Ranma's aura pulsed and the two boys were thrown across the street. They collapsed where they had landed, that would have been the end of it, but Akane chose that moment to walk around the corner just as Ryoga fell.   
  
"YOU LEAVE P-CHAN ALONE!" She screamed.  
  
Her worried expression turned to red rage as she charged Ranma with her mallet and turned him into a pancake, pivoted and launched the quivering mass into the sky. Whatever she had said was not lost to Ranma as he flew, his pain filled mind wondered why he had just felt a piece of his soul die.  
  
**********  
  
Uncles!  
prologue  
by Cory D. Rose  
Sept 2001  
  
**********  
  
Usagi and Rei were in the park when there was a loud explosion and they were the first ones to reach the large hole that Ranma had made when he landed. There at the bottom of an impressive crater was someone they had never thought to meet, the famous Ranma Saotome. The famous, bleeding, bruised, unconscious Ranma Saotome who had an expanding pool of blood forming around him.   
  
"Rei, call Ami and have her contact her mother." Usagi ordered.  
  
"Right, Meatball Head." Rei smirked, trying to get some kind of rise out of her friend. Even out cold Ranma was the cutest man they had ever seen, if he hadn't been injured as bad as he was Rei would have been all over him. Usagi too, but she had that on again, off again relationship with Mamoru so who knew what Usagi had in mind at any one time.  
  
  
She pulled out her communicator and soon had an ambulance on the way, Rei turned around as Usagi climbed down into the crater. She pulled a small first aid kit out of her subspace pocket and started to dress the wound on Ranma's arm. "Rei give me a hand here, if the information on Ranma is correct, he should be alright pretty soon."  
  
"You don't actually believe that do you?" Rei snapped.  
  
"I can see him healing before my eyes Rei." Usagi said calmly.  
  
The Ambulance rushed into the park and they soon had Ranma at the hospital where he was taken into the Emergency Room. A nurse came up to the two girls and had them answer a few questions.  
  
"Name?"  
  
"His name is Ranma Saotome." Usagi said.  
  
"Do you know how this happened to him?"  
  
"Were not sure, only that he was at the bottom of a small crater in the middle of the park. We do know that he is martial artist and lives in Nerima, but beyond that all we can do is guess."  
  
"Is there any family we can contact?"  
  
"We don't know, maybe someone in Nerima."  
  
"Thanks we can look in our records for anything else that might be needed." The nurse said and walked away.  
  
Rei looked at her friend and gave her a weird look. "Why didn't you tell her about him Usagi?"  
  
The blonde turned and looked at Rei. "I'm not sure, it didn't feel right, there is something weird here and I can't figure out what it is."  
  
"Weird?"  
  
"How could a regular human have survived falling of the sky like that? Also, those wounds were inflicted on him before he hit the ground, even I could tell that."  
  
"I hadn't noticed, but your right. Who or what could do that to Ranma Saotome, he is one of the best fighters in the world."  
  
**********  
  
Ranma opened his eyes to a familiar sight, the ceiling of a hospital room and he quickly remembered why he was here. Akane had hit him, hard, just as he was reigning in his aura. He had been in a lot of pain and barely even noticed her arrival, only the growl and impact of the mallet had given any clues that she was there..."YOU LEAVE P-CHAN ALONE!" Echoed through Ranma's mind as he lay there. A wash of anger swept through him as he realized that she really did hate him and had been playing him for a fool.   
  
A quick look was all he needed for him to take an inventory of himself, he had large bandaged gash on his arm, broken ribs, and a multitude of bruises. He usually healed this kind of damage in a couple of days and figure since he was in so much pain, that it hadn't been all that long since he arrived. It was at that moment the door to his room opened and two girls came in, one was a blonde and the other was a black haired girl, both were beautiful and reminded him of most of the girls he had ever met. His danger sense didn't go off so he figured they were not here to try and kill him.   
  
"Hello Ranma." They chorused.  
  
"Huh? How do you know who I am?"  
  
"Your pretty famous around here Ranma, most people can recognize you on sight."  
  
"Oh...um...okay." Ranma shrugged it off, he would worry about it later.  
  
"I'm Tsukino Usagi and this is Hino Rei, we found you in Juban park, in a crater. You looked pretty bad, so we had you brought to the hospital."  
  
"Oh...you didn't need to do that, I usually heal up pretty fast."  
  
"Yeah, the doctors are amazed, you have only been in here a few days and already you are pretty much healed."  
  
"How long have I been in here?"  
  
"Two days so far, we have been in to check on you a few times over the last couple of days."  
  
"Your the only ones to come in and check on me in two days?"  
  
"As far as we know, let me go and ask the nurse." Usagi said and walked out of the room.  
  
"Ranma, can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Sure, I guess."  
  
"You are rumored to be able to use your chi energies to fight with, is that true?"  
  
Weird question thought Ranma. "Sure, my chi and Ki abilities are what are making me heal faster than most people."  
  
"Just how much control do you have, I use chi in my fire readings and it took me years to learn how to use it even to a small amount."  
  
Ranma looked the girl over and read her aura and nearly fell out of bed in shock, the girl had an aura more powerful than the old ghoul did. Then he noticed that it was unfocused and mostly unused, he figured with a bit of training she could be as strong as Shampoo if she really tried. "Well from what I can see of your aura Rei, you have a lot of potential, but no one has ever trained you how to use it properly. Your chi is unfocused and wild, but you have also missed the most important step in your training."  
  
"What is that?" Rei asked, fascinated.  
  
"Chi and Ki is best used by someone who has a lot of martial arts training, the more in tune one is in with their body and the more in shape they are, the easier it is to use chi and Ki. You seem to have a black belt, first or second dan. To use chi and Ki one needs to be at least 5th dan or higher and a proper teacher in the art."  
  
Rei's eyes narrowed as she pieced that together. "Are you saying that I am not in shape?"  
  
"Huh, NO...I'm saying that you need to be in better shape than what you are now."  
  
Rei growled just as Usagi returned with an older woman dressed in a kimono. She was very beautiful and had reddish brown hair and a worried look on her face. Usagi just grinned and motioned for her to enter the room. Ranma looked lady over and paled noticeably, it was his mother. Usagi giggled and pulled Nodoka into the room and her face took on a look of happiness that lit the room as she saw Ranma.  
  
"H-hi mom..."  
  
Nodoka vanished for a split second and repapered glomped onto her son, bawling her eyes out. "Oh my manly son, what happened to you?"  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes when she couldn't see and prayed cold water wouldn't be a factor in this meeting. "Akane happened, that's what?"  
  
"Your fiancée?"  
  
"Yep, I don't know if you know, but she is very abusive..."  
  
"Akane?" Usagi and Rei exclaimed.  
  
"...but son, I've met her and she seems like a very nice girl." Nodoka said.  
  
"She usually is, when there is company about or she needs to be on her best behavior."  
  
"What happened to you?"  
  
"It is a little complicated, but it has given me a chance to think for the first time in a long while."  
  
"Were all willing to listen Ranma..." Usagi said.  
  
"I don't know if I can..."  
  
"Please son?"  
  
Ranma sighed and hoped the Kami were willing to let things slide for awhile, especially with his curse. "If I do this, I need to give you some back ground information."  
  
"I don't mind, I haven't seen you in 12 years Ranma..."  
  
"Your his mother and you haven't seen him in 12 years?!" Rei gasped out.  
  
"My life is very complicated Rei, almost insane really."  
  
"Are you sure you want us here Ranma?" Usagi asked, looking worried and curious at the same time.  
  
"You girls helped me out, I don't mind, but you may not believe me."  
  
"Just tell us Ranma, I won't hurt you."  
  
"To put it bluntly mom, I find that a little hard to believe." Ranma said with a glare at his mother, throwing his mental hands up in the air in exasperation at his mother's ideas.  
  
"W-what?"  
  
"Let's start at a few days before I went on the training trip mom..." Ranma began. He went on to explain his life on the road and what the old man had done to him over the years. His life at the Tendo's and so forth (Go read the series for more info.) "...That is a condensed version of my life so far."  
  
Nodoka had nearly fainted in shock from what her husband had done to her son, the dangerous training, the curse (which had been explained very thoroughly), and about the number of times Genma had dishonored the family. Nodoka had tears trailing down her cheeks and Usagi and Rei were dumfounded, but the curse, when demonstrated had been more than enough to prove many of Ranma's claims.  
  
"Son, why have you chosen now to reveal all of this?"  
  
"I won't be going back to the Tendo's mom, Akane has betrayed any trust I had for her and I will not be used again. I also need to get away from all the madness to get my life back together before I leave Nerima permanently and get away from the Panda."   
  
Nodoka had been rolling on the floor laughing when Ranma had revealed that the giant panda was in fact Genma, and she explained to the girls how he had been forced to eat Akane's toxic cooking on more than one occasion. She had also shown Ranma a copy of the seppuku contract he had signed and pointed out the fine print, a piece that seemed to have been ripped from his fathers version. It said, plainly, that Genma was responsible for all training, parental guidance, and to bring Ranma home every 3 or 4 months so that she could see his mother.  
  
"Mom, exactly why was this contract used anyway?"  
  
"It was never meant to cause this to be done to you Ranma, it was meant to keep Genma's insane ideas in line. It nearly killed me when Genma didn't bring you back and I did what I could to follow you, but he was always one or two steps ahead of me at all times. He even left a number of false trails to send me off on a wild goose chase or two. Oh and that reminds me of something I wanted to ask you, just what did you do to that Hibiki boy to get him so mad?"  
  
"You've met Ryoga?"  
  
"Yes, and he told me that you were a coward and had failed to show up at a duel with him." Nodoka said with a disappoving frown.  
  
"Story of my life mom, it goes back to pop. Me and Ryoga set up the fight at the empty lot behind his house and we gave each other a week to train. I showed up on friday and sat down to wait, I figured he would show up sometime the next day..."  
  
"The next day?" All 3 ladies asked.  
  
"Yeah, Ryoga has a family curse that can make him get lost in a room with one door."  
  
"I've heard of his lack of direction sense, but it isn't that bad is it?" Usagi said.  
  
"You have no idea, I waited in that lot until late Sunday night and lay down to get a few hours sleep to continue waiting..."  
  
"Sunday...3 days later?"  
  
"Yep, but the next morning pops showed up for morning practice and beat the crap out of me. He carried me off to China from there while Ryoga finally showed up the next day, found me gone and swore revenge for running out on our duel and followed us all the way to china and all the way to the cursed training grounds."  
  
"He has a curse?"  
  
"He turns into...sorry, I promised him that I wouldn't reveal his curse to anyone. He may use it against me, but I will keep my promises, unlike him."  
  
"Will you confirm it if I guess what it is?" Nodoka asked.  
  
"Sure, so long I don't tell you outright."  
  
"From what I recall of the few times I was at the Tendo's you have a dislike of Akane's pet pig."  
  
"Yep, the pervert." Ranma grumped and jumped as Usagi started to giggle.  
  
She dug into her purse and pulled out a pack of trading cards and handed them to Ranma. "These are sold at various stories around Juban and several other districts."  
  
The cards were pictures of the various fights that Ranma remembered, the kidnappings of Akane, various random pictures of all the fighters in Nerima, including the 'trained' animals like a panda, a cat, a duck, and a little black pig. Ranma's aura flared and the bed sheets began to smoke while he became more and more angry. At the very bottom of each card was the name 'N. Tendo Enterprises'. Ranma climbed out of bed, much to all the girl's protests, though that stopped as he walked past them. A hospital gown was not designed to hide ones modesty and Ranma had buns of steel. Three girls turned bright red and were unable to call up much of a protest as they memorized the way his muscles moved. Nodoka kept her mouth shut and studied the girls reactions to her son and swelled with pride, he was so manly! They were practically drooling over him.  
  
It took several minutes for him to find his clothing and used his speed training to get dressed. He failed to notice the flushed girls or the pride on his mother's face as he began to plan what to do next. "Usagi, do you know if the hospital managed to contact the Tendo's and tell them I was here?"  
  
"....drool..."  
  
"Usagi?" Ranma asked worriedly, placing his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Ahaaaa!" Usagi jumped across the room, her long pony tails seemed to have risen off of the ground and were trying to stand up. She giggled nervously and blushed at the look of confusion on Ranma's face. "R-Ranma...?"  
  
"Do you know if the hospital managed to call the Tendo's?"  
  
"They found me in the phone book Ranma, I doubt they called the Tendo's since your last name is Saotome."  
  
Ranma sighed in relief and winced as his broken ribs reminded him of their abuse at Ryoga's hands. "I need a place to stay for a few days and a temporary disguise."  
  
"You will stay with me Ranma." Nodoka said, a command in her voice.  
  
"Any other time and I would be more than happy to spend time with you mom, but when I disappear Nibiki goes ballistic and since I have been here for 2 days she might have already found me. Your place is on her list of usual places to check, I need somewhere she wouldn't suspect."  
  
"But..."  
  
"He can stay at my place." Rei said, still blushing.  
  
"Huh?" Ranma said.  
  
"I live and work as a Shinto Temple here in Juban and we are always taking in guests."  
  
"Rei-san, that isn't a very good idea, trouble seems to follow me around. Where I go danger and excitement usually follow. It only took 24 hours for it to start at the Tendo's when I arrived and has just escalated since, I don't want to place you or your family at risk in this mess."  
  
"I can take care of myself." Rei snapped out, unsure why she was getting mad.  
  
"I might be able to get my parents to set you up at my place Ranma." Usagi said. "But you would have to stay the night as a girl."  
  
"No thanks Usagi-san, the same reasoning applies to you as well. I think I'll just camp out in the park for a few days and try and find a place later on."  
  
"Ranma, what about Akane?" Nodoka asked.  
  
"Akane has used me as a punching bag too often mom, I will not honor Genma's promise to Mr. Tendo. She hates me and tells me so on a daily basis, I had hoped things would get better, but they have only grown worse. Akane used to mean a lot to me, but she refused to give me a break or even trust me and in the process beat me up when I wouldn't fight back against her. I won't put up with it anymore."  
  
"What about the other girls Ranma?"  
  
"For now, I will deal with them later."  
  
"Alright dear, I will abide by your decision, but we will need to find a way to deal with this fiancée situation honorably."  
  
"If I make the decision I will follow through on my word mom, but if pops is the cause I plan to totally ignore it. It is his fault, then it is his decision."  
  
Ranma walked out of the room and turned to Usagi and Rei. "How can I repay you for your kindness in helping me?"  
  
"You don't need to." Usagi said.  
  
"Sure I do, how about some ice cream." When Usagi's eyes started to sparkle Ranma knew he had a way to pay her back. He turned to Rei and considered her repayment carefully before deciding to do it. "Rei, I can teach you how to control your chi and Ki so that you can use it more effectively."  
  
"D-do you mean that?" She asked quietly.  
  
"Sure, I should be here in Juban for a few weeks before I decide what to finally do about my life, and there are several meditation techniques you need to learn to use chi and Ki effectively."  
  
"Th-thank you."  
  
Suddenly Usagi and Rei started to beep and they paled a little bit, but Ranma ignored it. They said that was their parents paging them and took off, waving good by. From there Ranma and his mother checked out and walked in silence for awhile. "Mom, why didn't my curse surprise you all that much?"  
  
"I have been following Genma for 10 years now Ranma, I even followed the both of you all the way to those training grounds."  
  
"Wha...did you pick up a curse too?"  
  
"Unlike Genma, I know a little Chinese and was able to read the signs and take precautions. Though the guide never mentioned your curses, I should have suspected when he called you two customers instead of visitors like he did me. For some reason the idea that you were cursed just never occurred to me, though it does bother me a little."  
  
"I could have handled turning into almost anything but this mom, any kind of animal would have been preferable. Pops did raise me to be a man and pounded that ideal into my head for 10 years..."  
  
"That isn't what I meant by man among men Ranma, I wanted a well mannered son, one who knew how to think for himself and make his own decisions. I wanted you to be assertive and unafraid of anything, a man who knew what he wanted and went after it with everything he had. The ability to woo the ladies and bed anyone he wanted."  
  
"Um..."  
  
"That last seems to be the only one Genma succeeded at, you are stubborn, rude, and very mean at times. You place yourself in situations that are dangerous and foolish just because someone challenged you in some way, when if you would have told them no it could have just blown over or forgotten about. Your hiding from me when I first arrived, though sad, was cowardly and dishonorable and I expect better of my son. For being raised by Genma for 12 years now, you have turned out amazingly well, but there are far to many areas that need improvement and I plan to correct those oversights as soon as I can."  
  
"Um...yes mother."  
  
"Now, we are going to make a few stops and pick up some items for you to read and practice, I will not let you wander off out of my sight again. Now come along, there is a book store around here that has everything you will ever need to improve yourself. I also have some martial arts training I want to discus with you."  
  
"Martial Arts?"  
  
"Genma spent the last 12 years teaching you his school and whole hoard of others, I have seen you practice with him after all. Well I want to pass my school on to you as well, that was what I was supposed to be teaching you while Genma brought you home every few months."  
  
"Really? What school do you practice?"  
  
"Why Kendo of course and before you say that weapons are useless, like Genma taught you. God knows I heard him quote it to me enough, we will be having a sparing match so that I can show you just what this old woman can do. By the way, have you figured out what you are going to do with that disguise you mentioned earlier?"   
  
"Um...no."  
  
"Well, I have a few ideas on that as well." Nodoka smiled. Ranma began to sweat and wondered what he had gotten himself into. There was an evil glint in her eyes that worried Ranma more than a little.   
  
After several minutes of walking they left the area and headed into a nearby shopping pavilion. Ranma hadn't been to this area before and it didn't look like much to him, but he kept his opinion to himself. He had been dealing with his mom for a while now and she had some really weird ideas about what she wanted from him. He just hoped he could survive whatever she had in mind, her reaction to the curse had been a little to conveniant for his tastes.  
  
They eventually entered this book store that seemed to carry a little bit of everything. A shudder went through Ranma as she led him into the back corner of the room and over to a section called 'female outlook'. He looked the books over and to his horror they were all about the female body, clothes, make up, and a whole plethera of other things he really didn't want to know about. Ranma backed out of the area as if his pants were on fire.  
  
"You've got to be kidding me." He hissed out.  
  
"You'll see what I have in mind Ranma." Nodoka said and smiled.  
  
Ranma groaned and failed to detect the girl that moved behind him untill he tripped over her and they fell to the ground in a pile. He sat up and shook his head before taking a good look at who ever it was that he ran into. She was cute, was the first thing he noticed. Then her small frame and blue hair were registered even as he stammered and helped her to her feet. She had on a school uniform that cut her curves nicely. "I"m sorry about that."  
  
"Not to worry, no harm done anyway."  
  
"I'm Ranma Saotome."  
  
She blushed. "I know."  
  
"Huh...oh yeah, I'm supposed to be well known around here. I forgot about that." Ranma said as he scratched the back of his head.  
  
"I'm Ami Mizuno, It's nice to meet you."  
  
Ranma smiled and she blushed, both of them looking at the ground. "..."  
  
"Ranma, I have what we came here for." Nodoka said and grinned at her manly son.  
  
"Alright mom, I'll be right there." Ranma said as he turned back to Ami. "I have to go, but it was nice meeting you."  
  
"Same here Ranma."  
  
He waved goodbye as they walked out of the store. A few seconds after they left Ami was pounced on by every girl in the store, demanding details.   
  
"So what did you pick up mom?"  
  
"These books detail all the information that a young girl needs to know as she grows up Ranma. Most of it is stuff that you should already know about, but since you were not born as a girl your going to have to get caught up on them."  
  
Ranma glanced in the sack and saw a title that made his blood run cold, it was a book on female hygine. He had been avoiding this subject for months now, this was all he needed. "Mom, I'm a guy, why do you want me to know about this stuff?"  
  
"Your going to be like this for the rest of your life Ranma, you need to know about it. You've already told me of a few instances where you've been stuck in your female form, these books will let you adapt a little better if it ever happens again."  
  
"But!"  
  
"No but's, Ranma, you need this. These books will also help you to learn some of the other stuff that my husband failed to teach you."  
  
"I don't like this mom..."  
  
"I know you don't, but you do need to know this stuff and it will help you become even more accustomed to your new body. Now promise me you'll do this for me." Nodoka said, she knew that Ranma would keep his word if he gave it.  
  
"...do I have to?"  
  
"Ranma!"  
  
"Okay, I promise ya." Sigh.  
  
"Excellent Ranma, now there's our house. Let's get inside and have lunch."  
  
Ranma trudged in behind her and resigned himself to his fate, he figured if this didn't work out she would make him spend long amounts of time as a girl. Maybe even go to school as a girl and that was the last thing he wanted to do right now. Nodoka handed him the books and he looked at them as if they were explosive and dangerous. A couple hours later Ranma finished off the first book, shuddered, and ate lunch with his mom.   
  
It was still early in the afternoon when his mom got up and changed into something that the Amazons had made for their female fighters. She handed him a boken and grinned at him as she motioned for him to follow her. Ranma sighed and decided that he would put up with nearly anything to be with his mom again. Fifteen minutes Ranma slammed into the side of the house with a grunt and dropped his boken. "Come on Ranma, I thought Genma taught you better than this!" Nodoka yelled out.  
  
Ranma reminded himself not to be to obvious about loseing in this fight, hiting his mother was even harder than hitting the tomboy. He rolled to his feet and shrugged as he dived back in, sword swinging in patterns Kuno had used on him. This time he held his own and his mothers was pleased, though he was holding back considerably. They spent the next couple hours going at each other until Nodoka finally called a halt and suggested they get cleaned up for dinner.  
  
"Sure mom."  
  
**********  
  
Ranma hobbled into the Tendo home a few hours after school had started, losing intentionally had been more painful than he figured it would be, and was glad he had staked the place out when he had watched for pops and old man Tendo to leave on their daily round of drinking. So Kasumi was the only one home to greet him when he came in, she was the only one of the family he was going to miss, at least his stomach would miss her. "Ranma? Where have you been, Akane was worried about you."  
  
"Akane is the reason I was gone for so long, she put me in the hospital."  
  
Kasumi gasped and looked sad. "Are you alright?"  
  
"I will be in a few days. I'm taking a little trip and stopped in to grab my pack and bed roll."  
  
"How long will you be gone?"  
  
"...I don't know Kasumi."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I am taking this trip to clear my head and make some decisions, and they may include not returning."  
  
"Ranma you don't have to do this."  
  
"Yes I do Kasumi and you know why, Akane's temper is getting worse and worse and I will not be on the receiving end anymore. She nearly crippled me this time and I found out some other stuff that I really didn't want to know, so for now I am leaving."  
  
Kasumi sniffled and hugged Ranma, "Please don't go, we can work this out."  
  
"It's been two years Kasumi, it won't be worked out and after what Akane did to me this time, I can not forgive her."  
  
"W-what did she do..."  
  
"She revealed that she knew Ryoga was P-chan all this time, she even called Ryoga P-chan."  
  
"I see."  
  
"I will always be your friend Kasumi, but I can not put up with Akane's temper any longer, she refuses to listen to me and blames every little problem and mistake on me. Much like Ryoga and all the others, I will not tolerate it anymore."  
  
Kasumi looked dejected and like she was about ready to cry, but put on a smile and handed Ranma a large envelope with the Saotome name on the front. "This showed up this morning and I didn't get a chance to give it to Mr. Saotome, I think it would be better if you opened it."  
  
He looked it over and opened as he sat down at the table, there were several dozen documents inside. The cover letter was from a private investigating firm out of the Juban district. While he read through the file, Kasumi collected his pack and gear and brought it downstairs for him, she had already packed all his belongings. Ranma paused and watched Kasumi when his inner wrongness started to alert him to something, it took several minutes, but it finally came to him. "Kasumi?"  
  
"Yes R-Ranma?" Sniffle.  
  
Please don't cry and make this harder than it has to be Kasumi, Ranma thought, then gaped as he noticed that Kasumi had brought his pack downstairs. "H-how did you lift my bag down here, it must weight 500 pounds."  
  
Kasumi smiled. "It wasn't that heavy Ranma."  
  
"Um...yeah, do you have any idea what these papers are for?"  
  
"No."  
  
"It seams I have a relative in Juban that I didn't know about, a 12 year old girl."  
  
"What's her name?"  
  
"Tomoe Hotaru, her father just recently passed away and there is a young couple trying to adopt her, but since she has family still alive they need our permission to allow the adoption. I am also going to have to keep pops from finding out about this, the couple is loaded and he would take everything from them before he allowed the adoption."  
  
"But Ranma, Mr. Saotome has to be informed."  
  
Ranma grinned evilly. "Not anymore, I had a little talk with mother and she helped me get registered as an adult on the family register. I now have the ability to make my own decisions for myself and the family if I want to, Genma has been removed from that status now that I am around to take his place. His police record was enough to make the records office do pretty much anything me and mom wanted."  
  
"You've been thinking about this for awhile haven't you?"  
  
"Every time I was up on the room Kasumi."  
  
"Is there anything else?"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"I take it you don't like it?"  
  
"This also says that Ryoga is a member of Hotaru's family and I don't want him ruining my chance at a new beginning."  
  
"He wouldn't do that would he?"  
  
"Ryoga is using Akane to help him further his revenge against me, the fact that they like each other is a bonus for him to manipulate Akane even more. She is very vocal about her hatred of me now a days and he will do everything in is power to dishonor me in front of her family as well."  
  
"This doesn't sound like Ryoga at all Ranma."  
  
"Like Akane, he puts on a certain face when around certain people, and shows his true colors around others. He also has a warped way of thinking that allows him to perceive everything wrong as my fault in one way or another. It took me a long time to figure this out Kasumi, he is either far smarter than he lets on, or the Kami of coincidence. Akane coming across us fighting has happened far to many times to count and she always takes his side, even if she was there when it started, and take her wrath out on me."  
  
"Ranma, I think you are looking at this from the wrong point of view."  
  
Ranma shrugged, he had finally made up his mind and was going to go with his decision. "We'll see what the future holds Kasumi, I'll write you and let you know how I'm doing."  
  
"Thank you Ranma."  
  
Ranma reached into his shirt and pulled out some envelopes, one for each member of the family. He sat them on the table and grabbed his pack, waved at Kasumi, and walked out of the Tendo home and headed for Furinkan High. If all was going well, his mom should have called to pull him out of school and transferred him to Juban high by now. He flipped through the papers from the detective agency again as he strolled along the fence, it seemed that his mother had an older brother who had children, who in turn had a daughter.  
  
The ringing of a Shampoo's bike bell alerted him to her presence and he jumped into the air and vanished from sight. He watched her speed by from the lamp post he was perched on, her head moving back and forth looking for him desperately. He actually didn't mind Shampoo all that much, but she wanted him to be her husband, and as a second class citizen of her village with no rights, she had been drugging and poisoning him for over two years now just to force him into that situation and would die before he gave up all of his freedom. She would have to undergo a massive change in personality and judgment for him to ever even consider her, but Cologne had too much of a claw in her soul to ever let go. The fact that he had no intention of ever going back to her village only made her quest even harder.  
  
Shaking his head, Ranma jumped onto a nearby roof and hopped the last half mile to reach the school. He stopped in an alley just before the school and hoped his mother had the right idea about how to go about breaking his ties in Nerima. He carefully dumped some water over his head and transformed so that his clothing didn't get wet, then undid his pants and shucked them off to reveal a pair of shorts. Over the months he had gotten used to his curse and considered it a part of who he was, but he still preferred his male body to this female one, even if he was faster as a girl.   
  
He grabbed the girls uniform he had hidden earlier behind one of the trashcans and quickly got dressed. She was buttoning up her arm cuffs when she felt the presence behind her and spun around. There on the wall was Kodachi, dressed in her school uniform, glaring at her. "What do you want Kodachi?"  
  
"Harlot, I have come to visit my Ranma-sama and found you hiding in this alley like some uncouth coward." OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH Kodachi laughed and attacked, her black ribbon snaked out and slashed through a trash can. Ranma somersaulted backwards and landed gracefully, her aura burst forth and a wave of dust flew from her.  
  
Kodachi, still laughing, jumped into the air and fired out dozens of clubs and ball bombs, turning the alley way into a war zone. Ranma dodged and weaved through it, using her enhanced senses to land in just the right place to avoid injury. She picked a couple of batons out of the air, ducked a razor hoop, and charged the batons with Ki. Her arms snapped out and the batons flew out with the force of a cannon, but Kodachi twisted around them and sent her ribbon out, neatly wrapping Ranma up and pulling her into the air.   
  
Ranma growled as she landed head first in the hard cement of the alley, wiggled out of the ribbon, and stood up. She didn't have time for this today and had every intention of never going through this again. Ranma snarled and brought her hands forward to fire off a small blast of Ki just as Kodachi was moving to attack her again, a razor hoop at the ready. The explosion rocked the alley as it slammed into the base of a nearby wall. Dust and debris filled the alley and Kodachi watched from a nearby roof for any sign of her foe, but as the dust cloud cleared away, she saw that Ranma was gone. Kodachi screamed and laughed her victory over the red haired harlot and bounced away.  
  
About a half block away, Ranma was again invisible and putting the final touches on her disguise. She had let her out of it's pigtail and fluffed it up as her mother had shown her, it didn't have to be totally convincing, just enough to make people remember someone that wasn't Ranma Saotome. She entered the school grounds and made her way inside to the principle's office. As expected, everything was in order and all she had to do was sign some papers and Ranma Saotome was out of Furinkan. She vanished from sight again as she walked down the hall and out of the building.  
  
**********  
  
"Hey mom, I came across something you should see." Ranma called out as she sauntered into the house.  
  
Nodoka looked up as Ranma came into the main room and handed her a packet of papers. "How did the transfer go Ranma?" She asked as she took the package and opened it up.  
  
"It was pretty simple really, though I did run into Kodachi while I was getting dressed, but I followed your advice about handling her and it seemed to work, better than anything else I've ever tried. Though I did not like running from the fight, it felt wrong."  
  
Nodoka gasped and slumped down, tears running down her cheeks as she read through the papers. "Where did you get this Ranma?"  
  
"It was sent to pops at the Tendo's, I picked it up as I was gathering up my other things. I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to let pops know he had more family to torture, so I took it."  
  
"I had a brother, about 15 years older than me who had a son, I don't recall his name off the top of my head though. That part of the family stopped talking to me when I married Genma, sigh, I wish I had listened, but I was always a stubborn child. So someone is trying to adopt her, are you going to go and visit her?"  
  
"Yes, I need to see what this family that wants to adopt her is like. I won't give her to just anyone."  
  
"We should call them and set up a meeting."  
  
"Believe it or not, the Hibiki's are a very distant relation of ours, several generations removed."  
  
"That is not good news mom..." Ranma sighed.  
  
Nodoka kept silent as she glared at Ranma for a second and pointed to the book he had discarded earlier that day. It was sitting innocently on the table in the front room, she gave him an evil smile. "Now I want you to go and read another few chapters in that book I got you Ranma."  
  
"Do I have to..."  
  
"It's either that or go to Juban High as a girl Ranma." Nodoka threatened, barely concealing a smile.  
  
"Yeah I know." Ranma shuddered and went to grab the book on 'Female Form'. It dealt with everything Ranma didn't want to know about the female body, especially how it worked, when, and why it did what. The descriptions were bad enough, but the pictures of things were enough to make him queasy. Of course this was followed by a nightly test given by his mom. He still hadn't figured out how she had talked him into staying here for a week before moving to Juban where he had an apartment being set up.   
  
If he was lucky he would also be teaching at a nearby dojo and earning some money. It would help though, if his mother wasn't beating the crap out of him most afternoons, as she taught him her sword style, amazingly her style was able to blend right into his Anything Goes style flawlessly and had been designed to do so. The fact that his mother could beat Kuno in a mater of seconds was a good selling point too.   
  
Later that day, sometime in the early afternoon, they were outside running through another sword kata when they heard the sound of someone screaming from far away. Ranma cocked his head and frowned as he recognized the wailing, he wasn't to fond of Akane anymore, but it still hurt him to cause her any pain. He had spent a long time writing the notes before he was satisfied with them and what they said. The scream of anger was the first bell of a long battle that would finally end his life from hell and allow him to begin anew.  
  
"That would be Akane."  
  
"Oh?" Nodoka asked, her eyebrow raised.  
  
"Yep, I talked to Kasumi today when I got my stuff and left some notes for each of the Tendo's. I expect Nabiki..." They heard the wail of terror, this one louder than the last, and obviously Nabiki. "...should be next." Ranma finished, smirking as they headed inside for supper.  
  
"What did you tell them?"  
  
"Akane's note said that the engagement was off until such time she learned to control her temper. That rising column of smoke in the distance was probably her." Ranma pointed in the general direction of Nerima, he could feel her Ki rising in anger even as he watched.  
  
"What about Nibiki?"  
  
"She was selling pictures of me, with out my permission or consent. While it was at school I knew that most of the money went to the dojo in one form or another, but when she expanded it she began to make a fortune off of me and the others. I asked for 51% of controlling interest in her little company or I would ruin it by having my pictures removed from the shelves. She has been pulling scams on me for 2 years now and I had adapt to counter her more interesting ideas."  
  
"She can't be that bad Ranma."  
  
"Mom, she once installed a camera in the bathroom furo when the hot water was broken and took pictures and videos of me in there getting cleaned up. A week later every boy in school had bought multiple copies of the video and pictures." To prove his point Ranma retrieved a video tape and a small flip book, and handed them to her mother, who's jaw was resting on the table. "I have several more sets of pictures and videos that she has made of me over the last 2 years, most of them are sets that I confiscated from the boys at school for having the balls to ask me to autograph them."  
  
"Ranma, watch your language!"  
  
"Sorry, sorry."  
  
"What about Kasumi?"  
  
"Kasumi is a saint and a total slave."  
  
"Slave?"  
  
"Kasumi keeps that household going at the expense of her own freedom, Mr. Tendo doesn't have a job, pop freeloads, and the other two sisters both have 'problems'. Kasumi has given up her youth to raise her sisters and take care of Mr. Tendo who is constantly in the midst of an 8 year nervous breakdown. There is a man who likes Kasumi enough to propose to her in an instant, but her family always comes first and she won't even consider him until her family can survive without her, which is an impossibility while everyone in that house depends on her to keep everything going."  
  
"I see...I don't know if I agree with everything you have said Ranma, but I do agree on a few points. Getting you away from them was a good idea though and spending some time away from you fiancé's will help you make up your own mind."  
  
With that the conversation ended and Nodoka's boken blurred as she tried to take Ranma's head off, he blocked instinctively and retaliated with the sword kata she had taught him a few days earlier. The klack and bang of the boken filled the air for the next couple of hours and Ranma was pushed to his limits and beyond. He now understood why the bastard panda feared his wife's sword so much, like Kuno, she had the ability to use a wooden sword to slice through solid stone and make it look easy. She had the skill to beat the pants off a good number of fighters, but he knew he could still beat her in a real fight. There were weaknesses in her style that he had noticed, he just hadn't figured out if they were deliberite or accicental.  
  
Nodoka's eyes narrowed and her wrist twisted and brought her boken down on the top of Ranma's head, knocking him cold. It also sent him flying back and crashing into the grass. The sprinklers turned on all of a sudden and transformed him back into a girl in an instant, she blinked and shrugged. He had explained how the curse worked, but she hadn't really believed it, but the last week he had been 'accidentally' transformed nearly 20 times by really weird circumstances, sprinklers, broken faucet, water puddles, and kids with water pistals.  
  
**********  
  
A few days later Ranma was just leaving Juban high after getting his paperwork finalized so that he could start to attend the next day. He was grinning as he walked and felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off of him, no more fiancé's to deal with, no stupid fights, no interfering father, just pure freedom. Well sort of, so long as he spent a couple nights a week with his mother he could live on his own here in another section of Juban that his mother had helped him to set up. It seemed she had friends in high places and had called in a few favors to get him into a new school within a few days of leaving Furinkan.   
  
It had been a week since he left the hospital and he had a couple of promises to keep to Usagi and Rei. The dojo had greeted someone of his unwanted fame with their arms open wide. The old sensei had nearly keeled over in a faint when he came in, the attending class had stared at him in awe. The dojo was only a few blocks from his new apartment building and had easy access to all the local business without any problems...  
  
"Ranma!"  
  
Ranma turned and spotted Usagi, her twin, and Ami of all people. He hadn't expected to meet her again, this could be a little fun after all. "Hi Usagi, who are your friends?"  
  
"This is Minako (the blonde), and this is Ami."  
  
"Hi Ami, I didn't expect to meet you again. Did you find what you were looking for the other day?"   
  
Ami turned bright red. "Y-yes I did Ranma."  
  
"Cool, Hey Usagi, I didn't know you had a twin?"  
  
"Huh?" Said both blondes.  
  
"You two look identical, except for the hair."  
  
Ami giggled and Ranma had to resist smiling at her. "They aren't related, can you believe that? The only two blondes in all Japan and they have different parents." Usagi and Minako gave Ami a weird look for few seconds, blinked in unison, and smiled in a very frightening way as they looked at the two teens.  
  
"Oh...well, while I have you here Usagi, lets go and get that ice cream I owe you, I'll even get some for all of us if you want." Ranma said.  
  
"You said the magic words Ranma." Minako giggled.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Ice cream, free, and all of us, you've made a friend for life and earned an empty wallet for the rest of the week." Ami said quietly, so that Usagi didn't hear her.  
  
Usagi's eyes grew big and started to almost glow as her friends sighed, Ranma took that as a bad sign but couldn't do anything as Usagi grabbed his arm and dragged him the Crown Arcade. The whole way Ranma could feel his danger senses going off, but the only thing he could detect was the weird grin on Minako's face. Ami looked more confused than anything else, but had kept up with them as best she could while actually reading a book and walking at the same time. As they entered, he spotted Rei and a taller girl sitting in a booth in the back, her face turned bright red when she saw him and little hearts started to float around her head. Just what had he gotten himself into?  
  
"Hi Rei, what are you doing here? Usagi said you went to another school."  
  
"We meet over here a few times a week to talk and have fun...ow...um this is Kino Makoto." Rei said as she pointed at the taller girl and rubbed her shin where Makoto had kicked her.  
  
"Hi..." Makoto breathed out.  
  
It was the look that made Ranma scan for all the exists in the room, the little hearts in the eyes, lust crazed, I'm instantly in love look that every girl he had ever encountered seemed to get at one time or another. "Hello Kino-san, I'm Saotome Ranma."  
  
"Ra..n..ma." Makoto seemed to say quietly and in such a way that Ranma nearly bolted, he could even feel the other girls giving him the once over.  
  
Now that he wasn't distracted, he noticed that every girl in the arcade was gazing at him, little hearts in their eyes and drooling. Ranma considered implementing the Saotome secret technique, but a pretty red head came up and smirked at him, then winked, and for some reason he calmed down a little. "Can I get you anything?"  
  
"We need 6 sundaes, whatever flavor the girls want, I'll take anything." Ranma said as the girls expressed their wants.  
  
"Coming right up, cutie." The redhead giggled and sauntered away.  
  
"So Ranma, just why do you owe Usagi an ice cream?" Ami asked, a strange look in her eyes.  
  
"She and Rei helped me out the other day and I promised her one as a repayment."  
  
"Rei too?"  
  
"Nope, I promised I would teach her some chi control techniques to help her get stronger."  
  
"When can we start on those?" Rei asked, smirking at the jealous looking Makoto.  
  
"Well I just moved to Juban a few days ago and will be teaching at the Dragon Ascension Dojo just up the way."  
  
"Old Mr. Kuroi's place?" Makoto asked.  
  
"You know him?"   
  
"I practice my martial arts there all the time, he usually gives me a couple hours in the evenings to practice what I want. Wait a minute...did you say your going to be teaching?"  
  
"Yep, full time at regular pay and any time on the weekends for the more expensive classes for the experts."  
  
Makoto's eyes glazed and she went into a fantasy mode, little giggles escaping her fantasy at obscure points. Ranma ignored her and let her have her fun, he turned to Rei and looked at her aura again, though to the others it looked like he was checking her out. Rei blushed, Ami tried not to be jealous, and Usagi...she stole Makoto's ice cream as the red head delivered them.   
  
"Thanks." Said Ranma as the waitress left, she blushed and stumbled her way back to the counter.  
  
Makoto giggled some more.  
  
Minako couldn't take her eyes off of Ranma's broad chest and rippling muscles, she was squirming in her chair. Next to her Ami was doing the same, and blushed as she realized that Ranma was giving them all weird looks. Usagi was eating like she usually did and Ranma grinned at her and challenged her to see who could eat their ice cream faster. Usagi agreed and the girls were witness to a boy who could eat so fast the he blurred, and his food simply vanished before Usagi was even half way done. Ranma had eaten Makoto's too, but she didn't even notice.   
  
"No one has ever beaten Usagi at speed eating before!" Rei yelled.  
  
"Just one of many techniques in my martial arts school, pop can turn anything into practice, even dinner."  
  
"No way!"  
  
"Heh, you should have seen what he had me doing to practice falling when I first started."  
  
"What did he do?"  
  
"He kicked me off a roof." Ranma told them several more stories to entertain them, and had them all giggling by the time he was done, though Makoto's giggling was beginning to worry him. He figured it was time well spent if they were happy. Eventually he was about to describe the fight he had with the golden pair when his danger sense went off and he started to look for away to go and check it out, but few seconds later all the girl's beepers went off at the same time. They looked frustrated as they all made excuses to leave. He followed the girls as they ran out the door and seemed to vanished, Ranma continued to move towards the danger and hoped the girls hadn't come this way. He landed on roof a few houses away from the dojo he would be working at, looked at the commotion below, and fell off the building laughing.   
  
He landed hard enough to crack the sidewalk and rolled through the geyser created by a broken fire hydrant that had been damaged earlier, turning him into a girl. Still snickering he watched the Sailor Scouts battle a tire shaped monster. Sure she had heard of the scouts, but to actually see them was a totally different experience. By the look of them they were out looking for sexual favors, no one showed off that much leg with a short skirt in public, but then he looked at them with her aura reading abilities and gasped. They were powerful beyond belief, Ranma would have been hard put to hurt them and the old ghoul would have had her hands full. Ranma watched from behind a damaged car as they fired off volley after volley of attacks and shook her head.  
  
They were all power, but they had no organization, they just seemed to fire at a monster until it was defeated. Sure it worked but it wasted their abilities and the fact that only two of them were even trained fighters was plainly obvious, the one in green and the one in red. Ranma studied them for a few seconds and gasped again, the one in red had Rei's aura! It was Rei, she suddenly realized, whatever had been keeping her from noticing had faded the instant she noticed. Ranma watched the fight and decided to help if it was needed, but a few minutes later the blue scout called out a strategy and the others followed through and destroyed the monster in small explosion of dust.  
  
After that the girls ran off and quickly vanished, Ranma stood up and leaned against the car. Of all the things she had been expecting in Juban, the Scouts had been on the bottom of the list. Now she even knew one of them, but what should she do about it. She didn't want to endanger any of them, but they obviously needed training or they were going to cause more problems than they solved. Ranma's danger sense went off and she dove to the side as the car was suddenly blasted out of existence.  
  
"You are endangering Crystal Tokyo, DIE!" Yelled a beautiful woman with long green hair as she leveled a weird looking staff at Ranma.  
  
"What the hell?!"  
  
Ranma rolled to her feet and instantly launched into the air calling her aura, a wave of blue energy formed around her and a ball of energy fired from her hands. It hit the green haired lady, but she only stumbled back a few feet and snarled as she brought her staff around again and fired off a ball of energy larger than she was. It ripped the ground up as it flew towards Ranma, luckily it was also slow and easily dodged. Or so she though, it changed direction as Ranma moved and exploded right next to her. Ranma screamed as the explosion destroyed the entire street and hurled her into a nearby building.  
  
Pluto ran forward just as Uranus and Neptune arrived, she fired right into the building and destroyed most of the first floor. Uranus and Neptune shrugged and fired off a couple of attacks right behind Pluto's, and waited to follow her lead. "There is a red headed girl in there, she is a threat to Crystal Tokyo, we must stop her."  
  
"Fine by me." Uranus said.  
  
"What did she do?" Neptune asked.  
  
"She is threat, just by existing she is warping Crystal Tokyo and seems to give off chaos like it was water. Destruction off all those around her is how she works and must be stopped."  
  
Ranma growled as she listened to the conversation, she was getting just a little tired of people jumping to conclusions about her. She tried to follow the way of honor and look where it kept putting her, it was time for a little pay back and since these Scouts were more than willing to kill, Ranma figured they were about to get the beatings of their lives. These Scouts were strong, stronger than Saffron if she read their auras right, so she reached deep within her and called up nearly all of her power. They were also stronger than the other Scouts, but she also had a the element of surprise, the didn't know just how strong she really was and that was an edge she could put to good use.  
  
"Do you feel that?! She is getting stronger, level the building!" Pluto yelled and fired off several attacks at the building's main supports. Uranus and Neptune followed suit and they watched as the entire thing exploded and collapsed.  
  
Ranma on the other hand wasn't there anymore, she had left out the back door even as it was falling. She broke into a run as she circled the building at high speed and used the Umisen Ken to vanish from sight as she jumped into the air and kicked Pluto in the head, sending her reeling. Ranma landed and wheel kicked Uranus even as she was moving to attack. She blurred and reappeared behind Neptune, punching her in the kidneys with the Amaguriken, nearly 300 punches in less than 2 seconds had her on the ground coughing up blood. Then spin and kick Uranus across the face and send her into a nearby wall, dodge an attack by Pluto and snap kick a piece of broken pavement and send it flying like a foot ball right into her stomach.  
  
A quick twist and plant a solid blow to the back of Neptune's skull to render her helpless and unconscious. This of course sends Uranus into a frothing at the mouth berserker rage, just what Ranma wanted. She and Pluto fire off multiple attacks that Ranma dodged and weaved around like she was dancing, getting closer and closer as she moved around them. Then she suddenly stopped just as they were firing off more attacks and threw her arm into the air.   
  
"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!"  
  
Pluto and Uranus gasped as their attacks suddenly canceled out and formed into a swirling vortex of air that quickly flared out and pulled them off the ground, they screamed and struggled against the large funnel of air. As the minutes passed, Ranma waited patiently for the attack to run out of power, but the two Scouts kept adding power to it by trying to throw attacks at the mass of swirling air. Just as she was getting bored, Pluto and Uranus landed in the street and bunced a couple of times. Pluto's staff landed like a pike and embedded itself into the pavement near Ranma, she reared back and let lose a Vacuum Blade that sliced the top right off the staff, shattering the rest of it to dust and leaving Pluto's artifact behind to clatter to the ground.  
  
Grabbing it out of curiosity, Ranma gazed at for a few seconds but gasps as it pops with a flash of light and vanishes. She looks around for a second, shrugs, and jumps off after resisting the urge to get more pay back. She is soon lost to sight as the Inner Scouts show up to help out with a fight they had thought finished. Pluto and Uranus were ripped to shreds and only their Scout powers were keeping them conscious, Neptune was just stunned and Mars was able to wake her up and get her help to transport Pluto and Uranus to the Shrine.  
  
"What do you think happened to them?" Moon asked, and wondered what was strong enough to take out the Outer Scouts like this.  
  
To be continued...  
**********  
  
Notes - Okay, this is an ideas I have had kicking around ever since I stumbled across the Uncles stories. For some weird reason I just did not like how every one of those stories were nearly identical in the beginning, sure they were the same story by different authors, but they were nearly identical in reaction and plot. This didn't sit well with me and decided to use the same plot, but to make it very different than what I had read so far. I also got more than a little steamed that they seemed to be abandoned like so many other fics. I always try to write up a story so that it has a kind of ending to it if you can't get back into it or have writers block.  
  
  
********** 


	2. Chapter 01 - Revised

**********  
Uncles!  
Chapter 01  
by Cory D. Rose  
Sept 2001  
  
**********  
  
Ranma was just entering the two story mall situated at the heart of the Jubaan district when he spotted something odd just inside the main entrance. He looked closer and came up behind a group of men surrounding a young girl. She had a slightly longer version of Nabiki's hair style, purple eyes, and a look of fear on her face a she tried to hide behind her arms.  
  
"Freak!"  
  
"Bitch!  
  
"Why don't you go back to where you came from?"   
  
"Witch!"  
  
"Monster!"   
  
"We don't want your kind here."   
  
The words rang out in Ranma's mind and he started to seeth, how could anyone call a little girl by those names? Ranma looked them over and figured that they looked like the usual pack of bullies found in any city. Four or five large punks against one small girl, it seemed that they need the extra man power to protect them from being hurt by a person weaker than them, smirk, that's the way punks usually operated. They were surrounding the young girl who was sniffling in fear. Nothing ticked Ranma off as much as anyone picking on a girl, time to exercise his martial artists oath, to protect the weak.  
  
"Gentlemen, and I have to use the term loosely, you have one warning to leave this girl alone, or else." Ranma declared.  
  
They turned around ready to pound him too, but they paled instantly and gaped. "It's Ranma, run!" The leader said, but some of them were to stupid to know fear and attacked anyways. Ranma just seemed to stand there until the last possible second, but then he seemed to explode into motion just when it seemed he was going to get pounded. The 3 punks slammed into the nearby walls with resounding thuds and moved no more. He stopped and looked down at the girl who was gazing at him in awe, he smiled at her and she blushed. "Are you alright, did they hurt you?"  
  
"N-no, they are always picking on me, though no one has ever tried to hurt me before."  
  
"Well they should leave you alone now, but if they don't..."  
  
"It's alright."  
  
Ranma smiled again. "I'm Saotome Ranma."  
  
"I know, I'm a big fan."  
  
"Fan?"  
  
"Sure, of your stories and fights, they are all over the city."  
  
"I just recently found out about the cards from a girl I met, are there other things as well?"  
  
Hortaru blushed again as she recalled all the wall scrolls and posters she had floating around her room of this hunk. "You didn't know?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Mostly posters and picture books that detail your adventures in Nerima and all of your fiancé's."  
  
"Figures, I suppose Nabiki wouldn't stick to just one type of item to sell of me to make a buck." Ranma muttered, as helped the girl to her feet. For a young girl she was quite cute, he thought. There was an innocence about her that reminded him a little of Kasumi. "So where were you headed?"  
  
"I just got out of school and was heading home with a friend."  
  
Ranma pulled the paper out of his shirt that had his relative's address on it. "You wouldn't happen to know where I can fine this address would you, this section of town is a bit confusing." Ranma asked.  
  
Hotaru looked at and gasped, how had he gotten her address and why was he going there? "Um...that is my house actually."  
  
"What?"  
  
"That is where I live."  
  
Ranma blink blinked and shrugged. "What is your name?"  
  
"Oh! Tomoe Hotaru"  
  
"What a coincidence, I was coming to visit you..." Ranma started, but stopped as she crumpled to the ground in a dead faint. "Baka, now who am I supposed to get directions from?"  
  
He picked the girl up and carried her over to a bench and lay her out just as he heard...  
  
"RANMA PREPARE TO DIE!"  
  
...and dodged Ryoga as he attacked. "What are you doing here Ryoga?"  
  
"You enemy of all women, I will not let you hurt my family the way you hurt Akane!" Ryoga yelled, his fangs glinting in the mall lighting.  
  
Damn, he already knew some of it, but perhaps not all of it. Ranma dodged and weaved as Ryoga pressed his attack, trashing walls and windows in his berserk rage. Ryoga had been training, Ranma could feel the increase in his rival's power level as it surged. A fist hit Ranma in the side of the head and sent him flying into a nearby food court where he crushed a table. Ryoga came in from above, his super heavy umbrella held point down as he descended on his foe.  
  
Ranma rolled to the side just as Ryoga hit, the floor exploded just as it had the first time he came to Furinkan High, and had to bat pieces of floor tile out of the air to protect himself and those still in the area of the blast. This was getting fun, but there were to many people around and Ryoga rarely cared for the innocent bystanders since he figured Ranma would put himself in danger to keep them safe. Predictably, Ryoga stood and pulled off a number of bandana's that he began go twirl, the insane glint in his eyes caused Ranma to shudder.   
  
His friend's rages were like Akane's problem, just growing worse and worse as time went on. Ranma watched the fleeing innocents leave the area and breathed a sigh of relief, but it was obvious that Ryoga didn't care at all as he let loose his arsenal of bandanas in a storm of spinning death. There had to be hundreds of them spinning around the area, thinking quickly, Ranma jumped back and lashed out with a pair of Vacuum blades. Not at Ryoga, but at a nearby railing and severing it in two places, his new staff bounced off the floor for only a second before he grabbed it and began to twirl it at high speed.  
  
It took all his concentration not to dodge the bandanas as they came at him, but his gamble had paid off as they slid to the floor when he negated their chi charge. Ryoga gaped and howled in rage, grabbing his umbrella again he exploded into motion. Ranma tried to fight him with the staff, but it buckled under the heavy blows and Ranma was forced to fall back on what he knew would, eventually, work. He would have tried to use his new skills in kendo, but he knew that he had to have those mastered completely before he could use them against Ryoga.  
  
"Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken!" He shouted and blurred.  
  
"Not this time you monster!" Ryoga yelled and blurred with Ranma, who stared, amazed at the sight of Ryoga using a speed technique he had never seen before.   
  
There was a sonic boom as both individuals broke the sound barrier, but it was Ranma who was hit first and he sailed across the food court and into a wall. Ryoga howled in triumph and threw his umbrella at Ranma's head, but the distance was more than 70 feet and the umbrella was to heavy to keep up enough speed. Ranma rolled out of the way just as it impacted into the floor at his feet. The floor shattered into a small crater and sent debris everywhere. Still kneeling, Ranma snapped his hands up and shouted. "Möko Takabisha!!" A beam of compressed blue energy fired forward.  
  
Ryoga countered with his green tinted "Shishi Höködan!!"  
  
Wind and fire swirled around the food court as they battled and Ranma's mind was analyzing the situation. He wondered where Ryoga had gone to get so much better, had he always been holding back for some strange reason? No, he complained constantly about loosing to him all the time, loudly and with a lot of cussing. How had he done it, it had only been a few days since their last fight. Ranma glared at the insane grin on Ryoga's face and wondered what it meant just a few seconds before Ryoga flared and doubled the power of his beam. Ranma gritted his teeth and did the same and every window in the area shattered as they imploded, the food court tables burst into flame.  
  
Ranma was impressed and grinned at Ryoga's achievements, however he had done it, they were nearly even now and could fight each other to a stand still. There was movement out of the corner of his eye and he saw Hotaru running towards them. Ranma motioned with his head as she entered the area. "Well?!"  
  
"We will continue this later Ranma." Ryoga snapped and powered down, Ranma followed suit and food court became as silent, except for the roasting sound of several burning tables anyway. Smoke and debris were either hovering over the area or laying in shattered pieces all around them.  
  
Before Hotaru could even yell at them, there was another explosion on the other side of the food court. Ranma and Ryoga were instantly in front of Hotaru shielding her and they were witness to a monster stepping though the hole in the wall. It was ugly and repulsive, if Ranma had to describe it, he would have said it was like Hopposai and a dog rolled into one, mixed with a some armor plate and in need of a bath. The smell was even worse than what it looked like, the little beady red eyes were actually enough to cause him to shiver.  
  
It gazed at them and giggled, causing Hotaru to gasp in fear. Ranma and Ryoga knew this was going to be a hard won fight, the thing was putting out enough power to level the entire building if it let loose. "What do you say Ryoga?"  
  
"We must protect Hotaru-chan."  
  
"Duh, I mean how do you want to attack it?"  
  
"I'll take the left, you take his legs."  
  
"Ryoga we have..."  
  
"Shishi Höködan!!" Ryoga yelled as he jumped 10 feet to the left and fired.  
  
Ranma grabbed Hotaru and launched into the air and landed on the second floor of the mall above them, set Hotaru down and smirked at her awed look. "Stay here or get to cover, me and Ryoga will take care of this thing." With that he dropped back down and fired off his attack, but the monster and Ryoga were already going at it tooth and nail. They had ripped the rest of the food court up and were working their way down the hall way, Ryoga leaving little craters every few feet as the little thing dodged his umbrella. Ranma came up from behind and they double teamed it, moving at a furious pace.  
  
What ever the thing was, it was fast and strong enough to shrug off the most powerful blows. Though out the entire fight so far, it had remained silent, only giggling evilly as it stayed on the defensive. Ryoga punched it in the head with a move that should have killed it instantly, but it didn't seem to even feel it. Ranma growled in frustration and punted the thing like he would Hopposai, but instead got the surprise of his life when it tapped him in the calf and blurred. The force of a cement truck slammed into him and sent him plowing through several walls of the mall, only to finally stop when he crashed into the fountain.  
  
The cold water was enough to snap her out of her daze and Ranma sat up, gasping for air. She spotted the trail of destruction that she had caused on her flight through the mall, the crowds were panicking even more as they fled the area completely. Ranma hopped out of the fountain, landed, and screamed in agony as her leg cramped up. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she recalled the little bastard tapping her leg just before throwing her. NO! Hotaru had to be protected, she would not be killed just minutes after she had met her, she was family!  
  
A flash of Dr. Tofu, in one of his Kasumi induced episodes washed over Ranma and he remembered something. He had been in a state of near paralyzation at the time, but the doc had done something like this to him and had him stiff with agony for a couple of minutes. When he had come out of it, he had tapped a spot on his upper thigh...there...tap. At first the pain failed to go away and he feared that it was the wrong point, but then the muscles relaxed and the pain went away.   
  
Ryoga and the little thing came crashing through the wall she had crashed through a few seconds ago and it was immediately obvious that Ryoga's super strength was no help. The Lost Boy was covered in bruises and cuts as the little monster giggled and continued to dodge, though every few seconds he would do a quick strike to Ryoga. Ranma's aura flared out and she came flying in at high speed and took the fight from Ryoga, who took a few seconds to clear his head. Ranma fought at her full strength and speed, focusing her aura more and more. She hadn't had to fight at this level since Saffron and that battle had ended with him being killed. This little pest didn't seem to have as much power as Saffron, but he made up for it with invulnerability and sheer speed.  
  
Up above Hotaru, now dressed as Sailor Saturn, was watching her friends get the crap beat out of them. She was more than a little surprised that they were still standing though, normal humans were not supposed to be this strong. Sure Uncle Ryoga was the strongest man she had ever seen, but Ranma had been fighting at a level she had never seen before. Even Ryoga hadn't shown this much skill until just recently and he had refused to explain what he did, just said he went on a 'training mission' or something.  
  
Saturn jumped down the main floor and landed silently, her glaive glinting int the flames of destruction around her. She ran after Ranma and Ryoga as they steered the battle back into the open areas of the mall. If she would have had time Hotaru would have gaped at the sight she saw, the main walkway for almost two hundred feet was totally destroyed, there were stiff bandanas sticking out of the walls, holes in ever surface in sight.   
  
As she got closer to the battle she could see Ryoga and...Ranko? battling the little monster. Where was Ranma? He wasn't around anywhere, she hadn't passed any bodies that she remembered, so he either escaped or was out of the area. Then she spotted Sailor Moon, Mercury, and Mars reaching the battle from the other end of the mall. "Hurry they need help!"  
  
"For the destruction of property and endangering lives, I Sailor Moon shall punish you in the name of th...uuufff!!" Sailor Moon went down as Ranko slammed into her and the little monster giggled in the back round.  
  
"BURNING MANDELA!" Mars screamed.  
  
"SHINNING AQUA ILLUSION!" Mercury yelled.  
  
Ranma groaned in pain and watched with blurry eyes as the two girls, dressed in silly outfits fired off the most powerful attacks she had ever seen. They made her Ki attacks look like a small lighter. His pain clouded mind barely registered that Rei was there, he had more important things to worry about, like how to protect his friends from this monster. The little bastard tried to dodge, and would have done so easily, but Ryoga came out of nowhere and punted the little bastard right into the attack before jumping out of the way. The thing giggled loudly just before it was wiped from existence. Rolling to her feet, Ranma noticed that the girl with the weird hairstyle was what had broken her fall.  
  
"Sailor Moon!" The other girls yelled in unison and ran over to them, Ranma sighed, just as Mercury accidentally kicked him away and into a wall in her attempt to get close to Sailor Moon.   
  
Ryoga just laughed and smirked at her as she slid down the wall with a slump. "Now that this is over Ranma, we will finish this."  
  
"Don't push your luck Ryoga..." Ranma growled.  
  
"What are you going to do about it Ranma, I finally have the strength to beat you and you can't take it." Ryoga smirked.  
  
"You couldn't beat me if you tried, P-Chan."  
  
"Ranma!" Ryoga snarled.  
  
"Bring it on Pig Boy!"  
  
"Will you two stop it!?" Yelled Sailor Saturn as she stepped in between them. "Ryoga, where is Ranma and why are you calling Ranko by Ranma's name?"  
  
"He needs glasses, that's what." Ranma said, trying to look kawaii. Moon and Mars rolled their eyes at Ranma's actions.  
  
"Why you..." Ryoga started, his aura starting up again, he pushed Saturn out of his way as gently as he could and jumped at Ranma with his umbrella.  
  
"MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!!" Sailor Moon yelled from the side, she really didn't like to see her friends argue like this. Normally she only did this to those who were possessed, but she had found that it also helped to calm large crowds down so that they were not as scared and panicked during a fight. These two, according to Hotaru, had been fighting each other since they saw each other, like two enemies out for each others blood.  
  
The light slammed into Ryoga and Ranma, a feeling of euphoria washed over them. This was followed by the most wonderful feeling they had ever experienced. Then it was over and they stood there, in a state of shock, for several seconds before they collapsing, which for Sailor Moon was a little odd since this hadn't happened before. They usually blinked a few times, smiled and said how much better they felt, not fall over in a faint and look a little pale.  
  
"What happened? Do you think Ranma will be alright?" Moon asked.  
  
Mercury took out her computer and scanned both boys for several seconds while her fingers danced over the small keys. "I'm not sure, but your healing blast seems to have cured them of something, what I can't tell, but it was definitely something of negative origin whatever it was."  
  
"Will they be okay?"  
  
"...um...according to this you actually did...whoa..."  
  
"Wh-what is it?!"  
  
"You also managed to super charge them with the Silver Crystal."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You gave them both a piece of your power Sailor Moon, they can be considered low level Scouts now. The girl is also radiating a power I have never seen before while Ryoga there...I can't even begin to describe what happened to him."  
  
"Mercury, it was just a 'Moon Healing Activation', it doesn't do things like that." Sailor Moon said nervously, she had promised to keep Ranma's secret, but if he was in danger...   
  
"I know, it shouldn't have any effect on a normal human except to make them more healthy and to feel better."  
  
Ranma's eyes opened slowly and she looked around, those girl's in the silly outfits were still standing around talking to each other. She rolled to her feet, and to her surprise felt no pain. The Scouts backed up a little, Ranma failed to notice the nervous look Moon gave her as she bounced up and down a little. "Hey, my injuries are gone!"  
  
"Sailor Moon used her magic to heal you." Mercury said, Mars who was off to the side, nodded.  
  
"What about Ryoga here?"  
  
"The same..."  
  
"Can I ask you a question?" Sailor Saturn asked.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"How come Ryoga was calling you Ranma, your name is Ranko according to the books and stories I've read about you."  
  
Ranma looked her over and for some weird reason didn't want to lie to the girls, and figured they would keep it to themselves since they had their own identities to protect. "Me and Ryoga are cursed."  
  
"Cursed?"  
  
"Yep, there is this valley in china where an ancient training ground is hidden in the mountains. There are a number of pools there with bamboo poles sticking out of them. The whole place is supposed to help with mid air combat and balance and to avoid falling into the pools. Each of these pools has a legend attached to them about something drowning in them. The curse is that when one falls in the pool, they take on the basic form of whatever drowned there."  
  
"But how does that explain Ryoga calling you Ranma?"  
  
"I am Ranma, I fell in the drowned girl spring. Now whenever I get hit with cold water I turn into a girl."  
  
"That's impossible!" Mercury gasps out.  
  
Ranma sighs, he always has to demonstrate his curse to prove that it is true, looks around and spots a yati cart and smiles at the tea bubbling away on one of the burners. He didn't even question why the yati had survived the battle, grabbed it and set it to the side. "Hot water will reverse the process, but since the is a little to hot I'll show you in a second."  
  
"Can you explain how you were doing all those attacks, it wasn't magic like what we use..." Mercury began.  
  
"Okay, most of what me and Ryoga do is enhance our abilities with our Ki, we can move super fast, increase our physical abilities like strength, healing, etc. We can also project it out of our hands and use it as a weapon."  
  
"...but your normal humans, that isn't possible..." Mars gasped, pretending to not know who Ranma is. Ranma notices but doesn't say anything, they will be having a little chat a little latter though.  
  
"Who ever said we were normal? Me and Ryoga here are probably the best fighters of our generation and have been training since before we could walk."  
  
Ranma checked the water and decided that it was cool enough and dumped it over his head. Saturn fainted on the spot as the cute redhead shifted and turned into the handsome Ranma, Mercury gaped and Sailor Moon and Mars smiled as they had already known about the curse. Ranma hopped over to Saturn and shook her a little to wake her, and helped her to her feet with a smile that had her blushing.   
  
"H-he's a st-starlight!" Sailor Mercury said.  
  
For Ryoga, Ranma smirked and used a different method to wake him up, he poured the rest of the water over the unconscious boy. Sputtering, Ryoga jumped to his feet and glared at Ranma, who was laughing. "DIE RANMA!"   
  
"Come and get me Pig Boy!" Ranma said and bounced over Ryoga easily.  
  
"Coward, take your beating like a man!"  
  
"Are those two for real?" Mars asked, she hadn't had a real run in with any of the Nerima Wrecking Crew yet.  
  
"According to Ryoga, Ranma and him are bitter rivals. He also said that Ranma has made his life a living hell and that he plans to get his revenge for all the pain and suffering he has suffered because of Ranma." Saturn said.  
  
"How can such a cute guy be that evil?" Mars asked, trying to picture this version of Ranma from what she had encountered the other day.  
  
"I don't think he is, Ryoga is very judgmental and tends to jump to conclusions. In the few weeks that I've known him he has shown to be very loyal, like a dog with a one track mind."  
  
"That's a little harsh Saturn." Moon commented.  
  
"Tell that to Haruka, he knocked her out for teasing me the other day. Of course he hadn't figured out the she was a girl at the time."  
  
"He knocked out Haruka?" Gasped Mercury.  
  
"Yep, it was pretty cool too. Punched her right through that large window that shows off the back yard. He's like a large guard dog, though Haruka didn't take it very well. She attacked him at her full strength, didn't help her much though, Ryoga shrugs off blows that would kill most normal people."  
  
"You know, that explains the day she came to school with all that makeup on, she must have several bruises on her face." Moon said.  
  
A loud splash alerted them to their surroundings again and they saw Ryoga climbing out of the fountain, snarling. He jumped out and launched himself at Ranma, who backpedaled in shock, was once again female. "Ryoga, calm down and look at yourself!"  
  
"DIE RANMA!"  
  
"Ryoga, your still human even after being dipped in the fountain!"  
  
Ryoga stumbled to a stop and gaped at Ranma for a second and replayed his memories of the event, his jaw hit the floor with a clang. "What the hell, I DIDN'T CHANGE! Hahahahah, I didn't change to the PIG! I'M CURED!"  
  
"How did you do it man, I want a cure to you know?"  
  
Ryoga didn't even hear him, he was to busy dancing in happiness, muttering 'never gonna be a pig again' over and over.   
  
"That's weird." Commented Sailor Moon.  
  
"Remember what Ranma told us about his life, this a kind of normal for him." Mars whispered.  
  
"That may have been the change I mentioned before, the one I couldn't describe. Something was removed from him and replaced with a portion of your power." Mercury said, not paying attention to Mars or Moon.  
  
"How much will it change them, and should we tell them?" Moon asked.  
  
"Those curses were probably why they were affected, they already had a bit of magic clinging to them and it helped to make your Healing magic work differently."  
  
"Well lets get this over with, hopefully they aren't to mad at me." Sailor Moon sighed. "Ranma, Ryoga!"  
  
"What?" They yelled back, Ranma had Ryoga in a head lock and was trying to get him to tell how he was cured. Ryoga wasn't even paying attention, there was this silly grin on his face that the girl's found adorable.  
  
"I think we know why Ryoga didn't change." Mercury said.  
  
Ranma released Ryoga and hopped back over to the girls, for some reason he was feeling pretty good. Even fighting with Ryoga had been fun for a change instead of the chore it had been lately. "What did you find?"  
  
"Well...when Sailor Moon used her wand to calm you down, it seems that your curses messed up the magic a little. It kept its healing magic and healed all of your wounds, but it also mixed with your curses and did something it wasn't designed to do."  
  
"Is it dangerous?" Ranma asked, nervously.  
  
"Not as far as I can tell, it just made some alterations to the both of you."  
  
"Alterations..."  
  
"Yes, with Ryoga here it took away his curse and replaced what was taken away."  
  
Ryoga paled, visions of a mutant pig running around sitting on various members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew running through his head.  
  
"I'm not sure on the changes, your energy readings are really weird, but I can tell that it gave both of you magical powers of some kind."  
  
"I DON'T WANT TO BE A MUTANT PIG!!!" Ryoga screamed, Ranma hit him up side the head and shook his head.  
  
"These are the Sailor Scouts moron, they wouldn't do that to you, what ever is going through your little piggy mind."  
  
"RANMA!!"  
  
The girls giggled and derailed Ryoga's train of thought, he laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. Ranma just sighed and turned to Mercury. "Is there some way to figure out exactly what happened to us?"  
  
"Not for a few days, I need to write a program to scan you a little better."  
  
"Drat...HOTARU!" Saturn jumped back in surprise.  
  
"W-what..." Stuttered out Sailor Moon.  
  
"Ryoga, we need to find Hotaru, I left her upstairs when the battle started."  
  
"You left her unprotected through all that?! DIE RANMA!" Ryoga cried out and attacked Ranma again.  
  
"Don't worry about her Ranma, most of the civilians were evacuated from the mall as we were arriving, she was probably in with them. Most are usually sent home to keep them safe, some of our battles can be quite damaging." Sailor Mars said, glancing at Saturn.  
  
"Well I'm going to go and look for her." Ranma said and jumped up to second level.   
  
"Get back here you coward, we have a fight to finish!" Ryoga yelled and took off after Ranma.  
  
"Saturn, you know Ryoga don't you?" Mars asked.  
  
"Yes I do, why?" She replied innocently.  
  
"Why did he just run through that wall as if it wasn't there?"  
  
"Just remember the stories about him and his direction sense."  
  
"Those weren't true..."  
  
"Trust me, they are very accurate, he went use the bathroom in my house the other day and disappeared for about 15 hours. When we found him, stuck in the hallway closet, he was asking us how we got all these giant stone columns into that giant bathroom, the 70 or so naked ladies, and the giant heated pool. I still don't know what he was talking about, he barely fit in that closet."  
  
**********  
  
Ranma made her way up stairs and began to look around for Hotaru, but after several minutes of running from store to store she stopped and tried to figure out a more efficient way to do this. Then her luck ran out as she spotted someone coming her way and she remembered the lady with the long green hair, she was missing her staff though. Ranma remembered destroying it in the last fight with the forbidden techniques, the vacume blades.   
  
"Who are you anyway?"  
  
"You are chaos incarnate and will destroy the future that is being crafted for my Queen. With you dead, she is guaranteed a bright and happy future."  
  
"You have got to be kidding me." Ranma said, as he spotted two other familiar figures stepping out of the shadows to each side of him. The blonde haired tomboy and the sea green haired girl were radiating power again and this time she could tell that they were going to use more than they had before.  
  
"Your evil ways will end here and now!" Yelled out Uranus.  
  
"That is all well and good ladies, but your making a mistake." Ranma said.  
  
"Your very life represents chaos, you can not stop us, you don't have the power this time."  
  
Ranma crouched down, if Sailor Moon hadn't healed her that may have been true, but ever since she had, she had felt incredible. She smirked and analyzed the situation, from what she was feeling, she was about even with all 3 girls physically. They were enhanced in a magical way that gave them an advantage, but also a handicap. They could only go so fast before the enhancements ran out, Ranma on the other hand knew that she could push her body into speeds that they could only dream about.  
  
"I advise you ladies against this, I am a trained fighter and one of the best in the world, you are not good enough to defeat me." Ranma arrogantly said.  
  
"Time to die scumbag." Uranus said as she pulled her sword, Neptune stood at her side and pulled out her mirror.  
  
"GO!" Pluto yelled.  
  
Uranus and Neptune jumped forward and yelled out their attacks. "SPACE SWORD BLASTER!" and "SUBMARINE REFLECTION!"  
  
Ranma dived forward and under both attacks and performed a foot sweep that sent Neptune to the floor. Her fist caught Neptune in the jaw and sent her sprawling, Uranus screamed and tried to decapitate him. Using her momentum and legs, Ranma hopped up into the air and kicked the girl in the head and tapped a pressure point in her arm that made her drop the sword. Then came the take down technique, he dropped her legs around her head and clamped them tight and twisted. This whipped Uranus around and he used the rest of the momentum to throw her, right over the balcony to the first floor.  
  
Pluto charged in and started to throw punches and kicks at high speed before Ranma could bring up a defense. This impressed Ranma to no end, so far the Scouts had been poorly trained fighters, but this Pluto seemed to have some skill in the art. She took several blows before she began to weave and dodge around Pluto's attack, then she sped up again and clocked her across the chin and sending her back several feet.  
  
She reacted on instinct as she sent out a kick that would have been her death blow, but she pivoted, grabbed her foot and tossed her over the railing. Just as Neptune fired off another "SUBMARINE REFLECTION!" and caught her in the chest. It was a powerful blast indeed, the strongest she had encountered to date in fact. It plowed into her with the force of a large bomb and sent her flying, her arms crossed in front of herself defensively. The pain was indescribable, she could feel her skin cooking even as she flew back through a concrete wall.  
  
There was a rush of air and Ranma noticed the sky and realized that she had been blasted outside, just as she impacted on the hood of a car and totaled it in an instant. Her vision was tinted red and she was barely able to see Pluto standing at the large smoking hole that had been made when she passed through. Pluto brought her hand up and pink and green energy flowed around her body, a ball of energy then formed and was launched at him. Ranma knew this was it, she had taken to much damage so far. If she had 5 minutes of rest she could get back into the fight, but her back was reinjured and currently too sore to even move.  
  
"I will not give up!" Ranma yelled and called on all her remaining strength and rolled off the car just as Pluto's beam hit. The car exploded and sent her flying, she landed on her shoulder and rolled to a stop in the middle of the parking lot. The now dislocated shoulder was a good sign, Ranma thought, the pain meant she was alive. Her vision went black just as she noticed a pair of red boots running towards her.   
  
"Ranma!"  
  
The Outer Scouts stalked out of the Mall, death written on their faces and Usagi knew that some thing was wrong. Haruka and Michiru were her friends, they had promised to never seek out another's life in the pursuit of the peace that they all sought. Usagi looked down on the bleeding body of her newest friend and for one of the few times in her life she felt her anger boil over. She was always playing the nice girl, never working to promote anger or allowing bad things to happen to her friends. She had done this for Prince Diamond and his brother, for the Sisters and even her possessed daughter, sacrificing almost everything for continued peace and a happy ending.   
  
Sailor Moon flashed and became Princess Serenity as Neptune and Uranus closed in, the shock on their faces was enough to make them pause. Usagi held her hand out and leveled her palm at the friends and glared at them, making them back up a few steps. Behind her she heard her friends gasp as she started to put out a massive silver aura that lit up the entire parking lot. Usagi's voice was barely heard by any of them, but when she talked they all felt it in their bones and it resonated with pure power.  
  
"Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, you are making me mad by trying to kill one of my friends and if you continue on this path I will strip you of your powers completely. Do. You. Understand!?"  
  
Everyone gaped at her for several seconds, Neptune and Uranus gulped in fear at the fire that seemed to be burning in their Princess' eyes and nodded. They ran off and quickly disappeared, Usagi looked up at Pluto and frowned. The green haired woman "Eeeped!" and vanished through the Time Gate. Usagi turned to look at Ranma and had to hold back her tears, Ranma had been in town less than a week now and he was already getting mixed up in something he didn't need to be in.  
  
She stretched her power out and let it envelope Ranma and willed his body to heal and made sure her magic healed everything in him. There was surge of power and Usagi knew that he would be alright when he awoke, but to be safe she had the inners grab him as she teleported them all to the Shrine. The appeared in Rei's bedroom with a burst of light and she motioned for them to lay him out.  
  
"Princess...what are you going to do?" Mercury asked, a little fear in her voice, she had never seen Usagi like this before.  
  
"Ranma is a member of Hotaru's family, something she had thought completely gone until he showed up."  
  
"H-how do y-you know that?" Mars asked.  
  
"I'm not sure yet, I just know that he has a destiny that is intertwined with us in some way and the letting the Outers kill him would not be a good idea."  
  
Usagi lifted her hand and once again let her silver power engulf Ranma and gave him a little magic 'push' in the right direction, she felt something in his mind give and break, but her magic instantly calmed the dark power that had been hidden in his mind and released a flood of memories that had been locked away. His life and struggles flashed through her and tears ran down her face, how he had survived was a total mystery. There was so much pain that he was blamed for that could be traced back to his parents and his tragic childhood. Usagi was getting mad again, Genma Saotome was a dead man if she ever got her hands on him. The man was an abusive monster that didn't deserve to be a parent.  
  
The dark power seemed to reach out and fill Ranma as Usagi worked and she used her magic to alter it and heal his mind while she shattered more of his blocked off memories of horrid training games involving wolves and trains and poisonous snakes. She used parts of herself as an example as she manipulated his mind and prayed it would heal him enough for him to survive. Usagi powered down, blinked, and fainted as her Princess Dress vanished in a flood of light, her Sailor Moon transformation vanished as well and left her in her school uniform. Sailor Mars caught her before she hit the ground and briefly wondered what she had done to Ranma. She looked up at the others, but they just shrugged, even Mercury who has scanned the whole thing with their computer.  
  
"All I can tell you right now is that she used more power than all of Japan in the course of a year."  
  
To Be Continued...  
**********  
  
Notes - This story is going in different direction than what I had planned, Ranma hasn't even made it to Horatu's house yet and Ryoga is showing signs that he has been getting stronger than ever. The Outers have attacked him in his female aspect and are more than willing to do what it takes to follow Pluto's orders. Usagi isn't taking it very well and as she gets stronger so does she change a little more into the Queen she is supposed to one day become. 


	3. Chapter 02 - Revised

**********  
  
Uncles!  
Chapter 02  
by Cory D. Rose  
Sept 2001  
  
**********  
  
Ranma trudged up the stairs to the Hikawa Shrine, today was the day he was going to have a little talk with Rei or Sailor Mars. He liked the idea that she was a Scout and could protect herself, but she had kept it secret even after he revealed to her his most hated secret. She probably has a good reason he thought to himself, but it still erked him a little bit. He couldn't even go to his mother for advice, she seemed to get stuck in this 'manly' fantasy every time he even metioned a girl's name. Even worse, she wanted him to bring girls home for dinner some times, she didn't seem to care who they were, so long as they were female and cute.  
  
He was so glad he had gotten permision to live on his own, he loved his mom, but she was almost as controling as his father. At least this way he could make his own mistakes, his own promises, and be able to live with them since he made them himself. So here he was fulfulling one of his promises, he hoped it went okay and nothing happened, but with the way his was at time it was a little hard to say what would happen. The temple was a good sized place and could have housed a large family easily, but so far he only knew of Rei and her Grandfather, who he hadn't met yet. Luckily it was early on Sunday, it would give him all day to teach her the special techniques he had learned to control his Ki for fighting.  
  
A black blur was all he noticed before he was tackled from the side and sent to the ground. "Your alive!" Squealed a very female voice.  
  
Ranma stopped himself from kicking the girl off him long enough to see that it was Hotaru and that she was crying, she was trying to hug the life out of him. Oh god, she was crying and he didn't know how to make her stop. Then he realized that it was tears of happiness, not the kind he was used to. He smiled down at her and hugged her back. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to visit Rei, we had some...uh...homework to help each other with." Hotaru lied.  
  
Ranma picked it up, but ignored it, he would find out later why she was lieing to him. "That's cool, I was just stopping by to repay Rei for the help she gave me the other day."  
  
"What did she do?"  
  
"She and Usagi helped me to the hospital after Akane used her mallet on me again."  
  
"Akane, she's one of your fiance'es right?"  
  
"Yep, though I'm trying to put an end to that crap now that it has gotten so out of control."  
  
"How?"  
  
Ranma stood up and they walked over to a nearby bench under a cherry tree and sat down. "This last attack by Akane was the end of my patience, she nearly killed me. She put me in the hospital and I was able to put my feelings for her in perspective, and I decided that I needed to get away from the crazyness and move on with my life, on my terms. I moved out and with the help of my mom got set up in an apartment not to far from here."  
  
"Is all the stuff on those cards and the stories true? I thought they had to be making some of it up, then all those super powerful martial arts attacks were a little hard to believe, then I saw you and Ryoga fight." Hotaru turned a super kawaii look on Ranma and he edged away in fear. "H-how did you two learn to do all that stuff, throwing magic blasts around, punching through stone and jumping so high. Could you teach me?"  
  
"Um...hehehe...it's not m-magic though.." Ranma couldn't resist the Look. "Sure, b-but only if your new parents agree."  
  
Hotaru squeeled and tackled a blushing Ranma, much to his embaressment he saw Rei hidding off to the side of the Shrine giggling uncontrolably. Ranma sighed and struggled back to his feet, picked up Hotaru and sat her back down on the bench, and mock glared at her. "I'll teach ya, but no more sneak tackling if you know whats good for you."  
  
"Hai!" Hotaru giggled.  
  
"She's got you wrapped around her finger already, Ranma?" Rei called out as she walked up, looking innocent, Ranma blushed again.  
  
"Um..."  
  
Giggle. "Are you here to show me those Ki exsersizes you promised?"  
  
Ranma sighed in relief and nodded his head. "That and I wanted to talk to you about something."  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"I'll explain later, but for now lets work on those techniques, we can start whenever your ready."  
  
"Can I learn too?" Hotaru asked, her eyes big and sparkling.  
  
"Sure, I planned to include you in this too Hotaru. Where would you like to practice Rei?"  
  
"We can practice in the back yard or one of the larger rooms if you want to do it inside."  
  
"Outside, nature makes it easier to do for some reason. Hotaru do you know how to meditate?"  
  
"No, I've never had to do it before."  
  
"Well let me get Rei started then I'll teach you how."  
  
It was about noon when they finished and Rei fell over gasping for air and had her clothing stuck to her from all the sweat she was dripping in, she had to admit Ranma knew his stuff, but he didn't have to tell her she didn't know how to breath right. Then he had proven it to her by showing her how it was done a certain way and why, so instead of learning a new technique, she had spent all morning sitting in one place and...breathing! At least Hotaru had been taught the same lesson, though Ranma had noticed the girl's fragile health and started to make up plans to get her back in shape, once her foster parents agreed though.  
  
Even worse was that Ranma had invited her to lunch with him and Hotaru, but she had chores to do and had to turn him down. She rose up slowly and waved goodbye to them as they headed down the stairs. She heaved a giant sigh of resignation as she trudged into the Shrine, it was about time she gave her grandfather a peice of her mind, sometimes she just couldn't get a break. There was something about Ranma that she really liked, even his curse didn't bother her all that much. Hotaru had mentioned to her, before Ranma showed up, that the transformation had surprised her only because she hadn't know that Ranma and Ranko from the stories were the same person. Now that she thought about it, if Ranma was indeed the one who was Ranko in those stories she had read, he was a very weird boy. Ranko was protrayed as the second sexiest character of the Wrecking Crew just below Shampoo, she was always flirting with the guys in one form or another. She had even seen pictures of her throwing herself at Ryoga and Kuno on several occations.  
  
**********  
  
She sat on her throne, dressed in a white dress made of the purest silks so thin that every portion of her body was visible to the naked eye. She had long white hair, pale skin, and even white eyes that glowed softly. She was known as Kakome, and had been on a quest for centuries now. To find the Artifact of Chronos, one of the most powerful items in exsistance. So powerful that she could destroy entire dimensions with it, but because of this it was also one of the best kept secrets in all the universe.  
  
She had searched countless worlds for even the slightest clue to it's wherabouts, everything she had learned had led to this pointless backwater world that had thrown down several of the more powerful dark powers in recent years. Queen Beryl, Doom Tree, Death Phantom, Pharaoh 90, even the corrupted Sailor Scout, Sailor Galaxia had fallen before this world. It was an impressive feet that had earned her respect, but she was not going to allow this stop her from gaining the Artifact. She was close this time, it was if she could feel it just waiting for her in some way.   
  
The only problem was the Sailor Scouts, they would stand in her way if she wasn't quick enough. Already they had killed one of her smaller fighters, but even that fight had brought her a large amount of information on them and their allies. There had been two there that had surprised her, the boy/girl fighter and the large male who actually fought her drone to a stand still. Only it's unlimited power had allowed it to live as long as it had and would have crushed the both fighters had the Scouts not interfered.   
  
Kakome had been both irritated and pleased when they showed up to stop her drone's random acts of destruction. It had allowed her to get a lock on one of them and learn their identity. She looked at the air in front of her and consentrated. A large sphere of white energy formed in front of her and showed a real time vision of Hotaru waking with Ranma, Kakome smirked as she saw the boy/girl yell out as a wave of water rolled over her. The change was fasinating to watch, seeing a very handsome boy shift to a very pretty girl stired her long dead scientific instincts. The entire reason she had started this search was to satisfy her curriosity, but after several years it had turned to obsession, even she realized that. It had led her down paths that were paved in blood, but she didn't care anymore. The Artifact was all she cared about, with it she could reverse all the damage she had been forced to create in her quest to find it.  
  
It was time, she realized, to set in motion a plan to deal with the Scouts so that she could have free reign to search this useless mud ball. She had studied Hotaru exstencively over the last couple of days and relized that this weak little girl was truely the fabled Scout of Destruction, one of the few beings she knew of that could destroy her completely. That was something she needed to deal with, her young age meant nothing to her, the girl was dangerous when she was transformed. She thought back through her past searches and figured she might be able to turn this potental danger to her advantage, all it would take was a reawakening. The only problem was that the potential change would make her even more dangerous than the Scout of Destruction, just more predictible and controlable.  
  
There was one thing she was glad of though, there was this split between the Inner Scouts and the Outer Scouts that the boy/girl was agravating for some reason. She had witnessed the first fight betwen the Outers and that one, those skills had been very imprssive, though the fact that she won had been a surprise. The Outers were very strong, they should have taken her down easilly. Those who used Ki in there fighting were not all that common, but she had encountered a good number of them. Ki was not as versatile as magic, it was good for blowing things up and impoving skills, but beyond that she had found it pretty easy to defeat and kill them. Yes, she decided, let's set this in motion.  
  
**********  
  
  
Several blocks away from the Shrine, Hotaru was trying to stifle her giggles as an irritated Ranma wrung what water she could out of her soaked clothing. They had been walking along silently when this truck drove through a nearby puddle of water and nailed Ranma. "Are you alright Ranma?"  
  
"Yeah, this is just the nature of the curse, it makes me a water magnet and sees to it that I get splashed at the worst possible time. This would be easier to live with, if I had some kind of control over the stupid thing though."  
  
"I think it is kind of neat."  
  
"Don't tell anyone else, but so do I, it's like having a secret identity sometimes. It can come in handy when I'm fighting too, I'm much faster as a girl than as a guy." Ranma whispered to his cousin.  
  
They chose a nearby Yati to get dinner, it was then that Ranma remembered that he had wanted to talk to Rei about her life as Sailor Mars. She shrugged it off, it could wait a few days and she needed to get around to meeting Hotaru's foster parents. She was hoping to make a good impression, but she knew that with the way her life went, her father had probably sold her to them at one point, it would have been just like the idiot. Ranma got a cup of hot water to go and they walked off, she used the water to transform just as soon as they were out of sight of the vender.  
  
"Let's head on over to your house Hotaru, I want to meet your foster parents."  
  
"Sure, they've been expecting someone to show up for a couple of days now, though they didn't believe me when I told them it was Ranma Saotome."  
  
"This being famous stuff is a pain, it ruins my edge against opponentes."  
  
"Not that much."  
  
"Well, more than I like, will Ryoga be there?"  
  
"I haven't seen him since the battle at the mall yesterday."  
  
"He has got to learn to read a map one of these days, I can not figure out how he can actually get lost in a closet some times."  
  
"That reminds me Ranma, what happened after you ran off yesterday?"  
  
"Me and Ryoga faught that thing until Sailor Moon showed up with some of the other Scouts and helped us beat it. Then me an Ryoga got into another fight and Sailor Moon decided to calm us down by hitting us with some kind of magic attack designed to heal or something. It had an odd effect on Ryoga, we found this out a few minutes later, his curse was cured. Mine wan't though, Mercury didn't know why, just that our curses had messed up the healing ray of Moons. So far I haven't felt any different than before and my life is still messed up as far as I can tell, so I don't think anything was done to me."  
  
'Not according to Mercury's computer.' Thought Hotaru.  
  
"Then...these other Scouts showed up when I went to look for you after the fight, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto, they were out for blood and nearly killed me too." Ranma said and shuddered, he couldn't believe he had lost that fight.  
  
"W-what!?" Hotaru gasped.  
  
"These other Scouts showed up and tried to kill me, blasted be through the mall wall from the second floor, I landed on a car, only my aura saved me from being killed and even then I was hurt bad."  
  
"They were trying to kill you?"  
  
"Yeah, the green haired bimbo kept yelling about how I messed up crystals and that I was destroying her lovers future, or something like that. Luckily Sailor Moon showed up and stopped them or I wouldn't be here right now, that girl has some serious power. She even healed me again when the green haird one nearly killed me, I've never seen anything like it before."  
  
"Sailor Moon healed you a second time?"  
  
"Yeah, though she got dressed up in this white dress and started to glow to do it. I don't remember anything beyond that until this morning when I woke up in bed. I figure the Scouts carried me home and left me there, I hope they got out of the area safely."  
  
"Ranma..." Hotaru started, unsure how to put this.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Um...I know a little about the Scouts, Pluto is the guardian of the Time Gate, this magical door that allows it's users to control asspects of time. Uranus and Neptune are known as the Outer Scouts and more soldiers than fighters, they will usually do what they deam best and worry about themselves later. The goal is always their top priority and they can, and have, gone after the enemy with a single mindedness that is almost frightning. According to some of the stories I have heard, Sailor Moon had to beat them in a fight just to get them to work with her and her Inner Scouts, and even then they only do so sporadicly." Hotaru said quietly, slightly out of beath.  
  
"Spor...what?"  
  
Hortaru giggled. "Not very often."  
  
"Ahhh..." Ranam said, this cute look of cofusion on his face. "So what your saying is that they won't give up, even when Moon told them to?"  
  
"It depends on how they feel about the situation, they will go against Moon's word if they need to. They have worked alone for years and don't like to work with the others."  
  
"I see, that will make dealing with them very hard."  
  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
"I don't know, they need to be made to see reason. I do know this, I will not roll over and die. I will fight them to my last breath and take even leathal measures if need be."  
  
"Y-you wouldn't?!"  
  
"Only as a last resort Hotaru and even then I would think twice about it, but if it needs to be done..." Ranma said, remembering the battle with Saffron.  
  
Hotaru paled and prayed her parents never found out about Ranma's little curse. This attack and the one a week or so ago now made more sense to her. Haruka and Michiru and Setsuna had come back from each of those fights beaten and worried more than they ever had before. Setsuna had even lost her Time Staff and the Artifact that was attached to it, now she had only spotty contorl over the gate at best. Ever since then she had been consumed with a rage she hadn't ever seen from Pluto before. Then last night she had come home to find Haruka and Michiru crying on the couch, Setsuna had been pale and shivering, never before had the Princess threatened them. Though in Hotaru's opinion it was about time Usagi started to show a little back bone against her adoptive parents. She loved them both, but their additudes were usually a little extream in the long run. They had this habit of causing more trouble than they fixed, now they had set this problem in motion.  
  
She looked up at her newest uncle and wonered again just how much of his life was true and how much was made up. A few days ago she would have been satified if he was a normal geek that just played a roll as a Ranma Saotome, but now she had seen him fight, she had seen him transform with water befor her eyes. She had witnessed him and Ryoga demolish the mall food court with moves she had only heard of in movies. He was as handsome as his posters too, she hoped he wouldn't be to upset with her, he was her idle. Her walls were covere in pictures of him, Ryoga, Ranko, and the others.   
  
For the first time in years she was actually feeling happy and the problems of her life didn't bother her as much. She sighed happily and wrapped herself around his arm, leaning against him. She didn't see Ranma start and begin sweating nervously, slightly paniced when others on the street began whispering when they recongized them. Several people began heading in their direction with a weird look of anger and concern on their faces, but Ranma warned them off with his eyes. Like Rei, he was going to have little talk with Hotaru about why she was treated differently, she still hadn't told him why those guys were attacking her.  
  
Hotaru's house was a little bigger than what he had been expecting, it was three stories high and sat on the top of a small hill. There was this beautiful landscaping around the place that would have taken day to explore and appeaciate. He felt more comfortable about Hotaru's chances already, she seemed to have been given a very good start on a new life. Just like he was trying to do. "This place is huge Hotaru."  
  
"I know, it belongs to Michiru's parents, they almost never use the house anymore and have effectively given it to Michiru while she and Haruka are staying in Japan. They've been using it for as long as I can remember." Hotaru shrugged and smiled up at Ranma.  
  
"This is neat, I've never been a place this big before." Ranma said. Then thought, at least not as a guest, stupid old man.  
  
"I'm sure you'll like it." Hotaru said.  
  
It took them several minutes to walk from the gate to the front door of the house, as he got closer and closer to the house, Ranma started to feel his danger sense go off, but for the life of him he couldn't tell why. Hotaru broke away from him and ran into the house without a second thought, her innocence visible to anyone who wanted to see it. Ranma took a few seconds to prepare himself in case he was walking into a dangerous situation, his danger sense would not go off for no reason. When he reached the door he found it wide open and stuck his head inside to look around, he spotted Hotaru talking excitedly with a couple sitting at a dining room table.  
  
They looked up as he entered and he was able to get a decent look at them. The first was of medium hight and head shoulder length green hair, she was dressed in a simple sundress that complemented her figure in the amazing ways. Sitting beside her was a man...no...a woman who looked very much like a man, she had short blonde hair and was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a loose white dress shirt. The top three or four buttons on the shirt were undone and it was only because her bra was showing that he could tell that this was a girl dressed in men's clothing. Ranma waved at them as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him.  
  
"Holy crap, it really is him Michiru." said the blond.  
  
"I don't believe it." Michiru gasped.  
  
Ranma grinned sheepishly as Hotaru ran over and hugged him. She led him back to the table and motioned for him to sit down. "These are Haruka and Michiru, they're the ones that want to adopt me."  
  
"Oh?" Ranma asked, his eyebrow raised.  
  
"Can I get you anything to eat?" Hotaru asked politely.  
  
"Just some tea, please." Ranma said with a grin and watched Hotaru run off to take care of it.  
  
Haruka was about to say something when she noticed that Michiru was doing something that she had not seen in the last couple of years. Her lovers eyes were glued to Ranma's body, taking in every last detail. Only Haruka noticed little details like the light flush that the skin of her girlfriend's face, her quickened breathing, or her stunned expression. This was so common nowadays that Ranma barely even noticed the when the girls started checking him out. "T-tell me about yourself, what exactly are your family's plans for Hotaru?" Haruka asked.  
  
He shrugged. "Right now I don't really have any plans for Hotaru, I just stoped by to visit her and see what kind of home life she had."  
  
"So you're not going to take her away from us?"  
  
"Nope, my mom and I looked into Hotaru's background a little bit and have found that she is better off here than she would be anywhere else."   
  
Haruka slumped in relief and let out a long sigh, she looked over at Michiru and nearly fell out of her chair. The green haired girl was unconsciously licking her lips as she gazed lovingly at Ranma's well muscled chest and arms, her hands were shaking as if resisting the urge to reach across the table and touch him. Luckily Hotaru chose that exact instant to come back into the room and set a tea set on the table with a loud slam. Michiru nearly jumped out of her clothes in shock and turned bright red as she buried her face in her hands, embarrassment written in her very posture. She quickly got up and excused herself as she quickly walked out of the room.  
  
"May I ask you a personal question?" Ranma asked.  
  
"Go ahead." Haruka asked, she figured this would come up sooner or later.  
  
"How long has Ryoga been hanging around here?"  
  
"Well Michiru and I...huh?" Haruka said and lost her train of thought.  
  
"Ryoga, the idiot attacked me at the mall the other day and started yelling about how he was also related to Hotaru and I was just curious to know how long he has been here?"  
  
Haruka's eyes narrowed in suppressed fury as she unconsciously rubbed the side of her face and her eyes glanced to the side where Ranma had noticed a large window that displayed the backyard in all its glory. This peeked his curiosity and he reached out with his Ki and touched the other woman to find that the entire right side of her face was bruised and that her jaw looked to have been cracked in several places at one time. "Ryoga stumbled upon us about three weeks ago when we were at the park and asked us for directions to our house while holding a map of Baltimore. After chatting with him for several minutes we ended up inviting him back to the house to have dinner with us as we went over the paperwork he had on him to prove that he was a long lost member of Hotaru's family."  
  
"Did he do anything else?"  
  
"Not that I can say." Haruka said quietly.  
  
"What about you Hotaru, has Ryoga done anything out of the ordinary since he showed up here?"  
  
Tthe little girl shrugged and let off a long drawn out sigh. "Ryoga is a lot of fun to be around, but he is a little overprotective and has gone so far as to attack some of my friends by jumping to some weird conclusion."  
  
"That sounds exactly like Ryoga, though normally he would not lay hand on a girl even if one had threatened him. Normally he would giggle a little and fall over in a dead faint if one even talked to him. I'm not sure what he did, but there is still the tell tale signs around here that he did something he shouldn't have and that is so out of character for Ryoga that I'm wondering exactly what happened to him over last couple of weeks." Ranma said as he sipped his tea.  
  
"What makes you think something happened to him?" Haruka asked.  
  
"When we fought at the mall he was holding his own against me a lot better than he usually does. Both his speed in his strength were nearly double or even triple of what it was when we last fought each other. I don't think he could have improved that much in such a short amount time without help."  
  
Both Hotaru and Haruka shrugged. "We have no idea."  
  
Ranma shrugged as he stood up and stretched, he was still having a bad feeling about this situation, but could tell that what ever had set his danger sense off had lessened quite a bit since he entered the house. Haruka and Michiru seemed like a perfectly good couple except for the fact that they were both female, but he figured he would not hold that against them since Hotaru seemed to be in such good hands. It was also due to the fact that since he spent half his time as a girl he had learned to better appreciate just what might go on in a relationship such as their's. Michiru finally came back into the room carrying a huge platter of food, she smiled and everyone and motioned for them to sit down and eat as much as they wanted.   
  
This was perfectly fine for Ranma, he never turned down a free meal and it went against everything he believed in to do so. For the first time in a long time Ranma actually managed to eat a meal without resorting to the Saotome culinary techniques of speed, defense, and precision attacks upon neighboring meals. If any of the Tendo's had seen such a display of control from Ranma, they wouldn't fainted on the spot from shock alone. By the time everyone was finished with dinner he was satisfied that Hotaru's adoptive parents could do the job far better than his idiot father ever could.   
  
"So, are you two positive that you want to adopt Hotaru into your family?" Ranma asked.  
  
Both Haruka and Michiru nodded enthusiastically and hugged Hotaru, each of them grinning madly and Hotaru blushing in embarrassment. Ranma just chuckled and finished off the last of the food, which took about thirty seconds because he decided to show off a little bit of his speed. Both Haruka and Michiru gasped in awe as Ranma's chopsticks blurred from sight and the food on table simply vanished before their eyes. They suddenly recalled some of the stories that Hotaru had told them over the last few months, stories that they had thought she was just making up in her enthusiasm, but it seems she was telling the truth after all.  
  
"If you guys don't mind, my mother would like to meet you guys and Hotaru at some point the next few weeks?"  
  
"We don't mind in the least." Michiru said as she was smiling happily.  
  
"Exactly, we would love to meet some more of your family Ranma." Haruka said.  
  
"Cool, I'll call her when I get back to my apartment and let her know that she can stop by anytime if that is okay with you?" Ranma said.  
  
"Actually anytime in the afternoons during weekdays would be the best time to catch us here, perhaps between 6 PM and 9 PM at night would be best." Michiru said as she thought about the question carefully.  
  
"Do you know how you are related to Hotaru, Ranma." Haruka asked.  
  
"To tell you the truth I'm not exactly sure if I'm her cousin or her uncle, I think it is a little bit of both. Do you know how Ryoga is related to her?"  
  
"Ryoga said he was the distant uncle of mine." Hotaru said as her face scrunched up and thought.  
  
Ranma nodded sagely and popped a couple of roles into his mouth before any of the girls could say otherwise. "That's more information than what I got out of Ryoga, that guy never could forgive and forget even the smallest of mistakes." Ranma shrugged. "Well Hotaru, what would you like to do from here. The only thing left to do now is to let Mom finalize the paperwork to get everything set in motion."  
  
"We look forward to it Ranma. Hotaru, why don't you take him up to your room and show off all those posters you have wallpapering the walls." Haruka teased.  
  
Glomp!! "Uncle Ranma, come upstairs and see my room!" As she performed and industrial strength Amazon Glomp.  
  
"You don't need a practice for that one anymore." Ranma muttered under his breath as Hotaru dragged him upstairs into her room excitedly.  
  
Michiru and Haruka just giggled as he was forcibley kidnapped by and overly energetic girl. "Well there's something you don't see every day." Michiru said.  
  
"True." Haruka said, her eyes folling the two as they disappeard up stairs. "Did you feel it?"  
  
"Yes, that boy has some serious power..."  
  
"And here I thought you were going to say something about his rippling muscles. I haven't seen you like that in a long time cute stuff."  
  
Michiru blushed. "I thought we were talking about the odd power coming from that...boy?"  
  
"Did it feel familiar to you ?"  
  
"Not really, but I wasn't looking at his energy."   
  
"I noticed that too, you were licking you lips and drooling."   
  
"I was not!" Michiru exclaimed in a huff, crossing her arms.  
  
Haruka just laughed.  
  
**********  
  
The first thing he noticed was the picture of himself, topless, fighting his father, it was in poster form and tacted to the ceiling right above her bed. he blushed a little bit as he realized it was the very picture of him that Nabiki had sold to every available female in a three-mile wide radius of the school. They had bothered him for weeks after that, trying to get him to autograph various items from books to clothing to the posters themselves to various items of underwear that they liked to shove in his face and squeal excitedly about. They had of course done this when Akane was with him and it had set her off at a moment's notice, those had been some of the worst weeks he could remember since he spent most of it in the doctor's office covered in bandages.   
  
Ranma looked over the rest of the room and noticed several smaller posters tacked to the wall, most of them featured him going through various of his fighting techniques, but there are were also pictures of Ryoga, Kuno, Mousse, Shampoo, Akane, and his female form. it occurred to him that, other than a small picture they had taken of the group on the last day of their vacation on Toma's Island, he had never seen so many pictures of the entire group all in one place. It actually managed to send a shiver of fear down his spine.  
  
"What's wrong, are you alright?" Hotaru asked nervously.  
  
"Oh, I'm fine, this is just a little hard for me to grasp yet and it is a constant reminder that Nabiki owes me some large amounts of money."  
  
"What you mean?"  
  
"Remember how I told you that I had no idea about any of this stuff?"  
  
Hotaru nodded.  
  
"That basically means that Nabiki is making a fortune off of me and my curse without getting any of that money to me or those she's using, like Ryoga or Shampoo."  
  
"You mean you actually had no idea about any of this stuff?" Hotaru says gesturing at all the posters, books, bed sheets, and numerous toys shaped to look like them that she had scattered all over the entire room.  
  
Ranma shook his head sadly and shrugged. "Me and mom are doing something about it now that I know of it, but it's only been a few days so it'll be awhile yet before anything major happens."  
  
"I hope everything works out for you." Hotaru said sadly as she realized that all of this stuff dedicated to her idle could soon vanish completely.  
  
"Actually, I don't mind this stuff all that much it's just that I was never asked and I'll bet that none of the others have been asked either. Though eventually, if Nabiki is allowed to continue, there's a very good chance of for having a doll made up of you as well." Ranma said with a smirk.  
  
"What?!" Hotaru gasped.  
  
Ranma walked over to her dresser and picked up a very good representation of Taru in his cursed form. "Nabiki seems to have been able to get stuff made up of everyone that I've never come in contact with, friends, enemies, and combinations of the two. That means that since your a part of my family there is a good chance that she will eventually get around to having one of these made up of you as well."  
  
"Oh my!" Hotaru said as she paled and staggered over to her bed and sat down with a heavy thump.  
  
Ranma chuckled.  
  
There was a light knock at the door to Hotaru was room as Haruka and Michiru came in and smiled. "Ranma, would you like to stay tonight?"  
  
"Naw, I'd better be getting back to my apartment, I've got some classes at the dojo that I have to get ready to start teaching within a few days, I still got a bunch of work to do while I get everything set up."  
  
"Teaching? Have you finally begun to hold classes at the Tendo Dojo now?" Haruka asked as she recalled some of Ranma's history.  
  
Ranma shook his head no. "I'm currently taking a bit of a break from the mess in Nerima. I'm hoping to get away from it permanently if it all possible, but even I'm not that optimistic. Eventually most of the old crew will find me and will start again, I just hope that this time I'm better equipped to deal with the problems than what it was two years ago when he started."  
  
"If not at the Tendo's, where you teaching at?" Haruka asked.  
  
"It's a place called the 'Ascension of the Dragon God' dojo, it set up just a few blocks from Juban High School."  
  
"I don't recognize that one." Haruka said to herself.  
  
"That reminds me, would you to be willing to allow me to teach Hotaru how to better protect herself into gator in better shape so that she is not as weak as this?"  
  
"What did you have in mind?" Michiru asked.  
  
"I was considering some of the softer forms of martial arts and a bit of weapon work since she cannot rely on physical strength during a fight." Ranma said, recalling some of the light exercising they had done over at the temple earlier that day.  
  
"I don't mind so long as she isn't forced to do something that would aggravate her health even more than it already is. She is already in better shape than when she was when we first took her in, but she could always use a bit more training." Haruka said as she seriously considered the question. It wasn't as if they hadn't a started Hotaru on self-defense lessons already, it was just that she wasn't back to her full growth yet. Even then, less than nine months ago Hotaru had been nothing more than a small baby going through its second childhood. So they really hadn't had time to show her much of anything yet, now they seem to have been presented with an opportunity to have her trained under one of the best martial artists in the world. How can they pass that up, hell, how could she herself pass up an actual opportunity like this since he was teaching classes in an actual dojo anyways?  
  
Ranma grinned and looked at Hotaru. "There is your permission kid, I want you to meet me at the temple on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays in the afternoon after school for a couple hours training and on Sundays at 8 AM for a full day's training in endurance and conditioning. That way you and Rei can help each other out as you work together and learn each of the techniques that I will show you." Ranma chuckled evilly, making all the girl's cringe. Ranma said good aftenoon to all of them and headed on home after that. They had invited him to supper as well, but had decided he needed to get back over to Rei's and have that talk with her.  
  
Hotaru sighed happily as she shut the front door, she turned around and ground to a halt. Haruka and Michiro were standing outside of her room. They were staring inside as if there was a monster in there preparing to attack, she came up beside them and looked inside curriously. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Hotaru, see that picture you have of Ranko on your wall." Haruka said.  
  
"Sure, so you want to hang it up somewhere else?" Hotaru asked carefully.  
  
"No, that is the girl that destroyed Pluto's staff and beat us up the other day."  
  
"What?! Ranko?" Hotaru yelled.  
  
"Michiru we need to tell Pluto about this, I never even considered the possibility that it was Ranko that we fought." Haruka said.  
  
"If it is her, then we know where to find her too." Michiru said.  
  
**********  
  
Note - Okay, this is the long awaited arrival at Hotaru's house and I have had several e-mails suggesting that this would be a powder keg set to go off. I decided to make all the fights with the Outers with Ranma in his girl form, this way no one has any idea that they are the same person. Ranma has no way of knowing that the Outers are the one's wanting to adopt Hotaru, only that they are lesbians. In his view lesbians are better than letting his father get someone else to train, it is to horrible to think about. 


	4. Chapter 03

Notes - Well it has been awhile since I put anything out on this story, just got to involved in my the other works. It advances things a little and sets the ground work for some up coming chapters. Reader comments on this have really made me alter it from what it was originally, a good number of people didn't like what I was doing with it. That kind of confused me really since I thought the original was pretty good and gave the plot a needed shot in the arm. I'm not sure what some of you will think of my changes, but I'm always willing to explain something if there are questions, just E-mail me.  
  
My site is at - http://home.talkcity.com/BookmarkBlvd/crose9/  
  
**********  
Uncles!  
Chapter 03  
by Cory D. Rose  
ertle2@msn.com  
(c) 2001  
**********  
  
"Excellent!" Ranma said as he watched Rei.  
  
They were again working on the techniques that Ranma had promised to teach her several days before. This time Rei had to admit that when she was breathing the way Ranma had taught her it seemed to be a lot easier to do now than when she had originally tried. She had used her Shinto training to center herself, and looked to the chi paths inside her as Ranma described them, and found that it was easy to focus her Ki into those paths. So Rei was sitting in the middle of the back yard with a faint red glow around her. It felt good too, better than anything she had done in a long time. She had worked very hard for this and accomplishing it meant she would soon be able to do other things as well. Even her grandfather was amazed at how quickly she had picked up the techniques and had told her how proud he was to see her growing strong by the day.   
  
"Thanks Ranma, I can't believe how easy that was."  
  
"Once you figure it out, its the easiest thing in the world. Now all you have to do is learn to harness the Ki and use it to enhance your body and your skills. That will take a little longer than a few lessons, but it will come to you eventually and when it does, you will be able to move faster than you thought possible, take hits that would kill normal fighters, and leap higher than a two or three story's in a single jump with no problems. The uses are almost limitless, it just takes an idea of what you want and practice." Ranma said, as excited about this as Rei was.  
  
"What's next? Now that I have the aura down..."  
  
"For now, I want you to spend the next several days building up your Ki and strengthening your control. Flare your aura while you are doing your fire readings, practice your martial arts, just relaxing, or while doing your homework. This little bit your using now is almost useless to you except as a night light, but with practice it can be built up and used as an attack or defense. Eventually I expect you to be able to add this power into your fire readings to make them clearer and more accurate."  
  
"Cool!" Rei said, and thought about the Dragon Ball Z episodes she had seen, wondering if any of that was possible now that she could access her Ki on a higher level. Then she sighed and had to relax and let the aura go. Sweat was running down her face and covering her entire body. She realized that she felt really weak and nearly fell over, but Ranma knelt down and steadied her with his hand and grinned at her.  
  
"You just used to much of your Ki. There is only so much available at the moment. That is why you need to build it up so that it can be used for longer periods of time, its like a muscle that you flex, the more you use it the easier it will become. You will need to eat a little more food than normal when you use you Ki up too. For some reason the body can use food and extra sleep to replace your excess Ki when you run low, you can't run out though, you'll pass out before that happens. When you start using it more and more you will find your appetite growing to insane amounts. I normally eat four to six times what others do in one sitting, but I practice my Ki exercises anywhere from six to twelve hours a day. I'll show you what I do once you get these basics down, in few weeks you should be ready to incorporate using Ki into your everyday chores and stuff."  
  
Rei took a deep breath and grinned. "Didn't you want to talk to me about something the other day?"  
  
"Hmmm? Oh yeah, I figured something out and I wanted you to know that I wasn't going to give away your secret."  
  
"What secret?" Rei asked, slightly puzzled.  
  
"That you're Sailor Mars."  
  
This time Rei did fall over. "W-what...m-makes you say that?"   
  
"That day at the ice cream shop, when you all ran out, I watched your fight with that demon. You have this magic field around you that was making it hard to see your face, but it did nothing to hide your aura and that was easy to identify once I had the idea of what to look for. I've been wanting to talk to you about your powers for days now."  
  
Rei gaped at him and wondered what she was going to have to do about this, they couldn't have their identities known by just everyone.  
  
"Like I said, I will keep it secret, but I wanted to say, from what I saw of that fight, you girls are very strong magically. Unfortunately, most of you don't know the first thing about fighting properly and need to be trained to use those super powerful magic attacks before you girls hurt someone."  
  
"Hey, we practice all the time!" Rei snapped, then slapped her hand over her mouth.  
  
"How much?"  
  
"Every weekend."  
  
"For how long?"  
  
"Depends, but usually it is for about four hours." Though it is usually for less than that, Rei thought to herself as she finally sat up. Usagi was always trying to get out of it and using Makoto's food as an excuse. The others were always coming up with one excuse or another if they need or if they wanted to do something other than blow up large areas of land.  
  
"You and your friends were there at the mall when me and Ryoga took on that thing, we were holding our own against it and slowly winning, though I had to admit that you girls did impress me. Me and Ryoga tend to put in at least six to thirteen hours of practice a day, we do this by making everything we do into training. Like walking on top of fences to perfect our balance or turning cooking into a weapons demonstration. Things like that."  
  
"Ranma, we don't have time to do that kind of training."  
  
"Maybe not, but with those Sailor abilities of yours I can teach all of you how to defend yourselves without harming those around you. All of you are very quick, strong, and tough. Those are traits that usually take years to develop, but your powers give you a short cut to doing advanced moves and I am willing to help you and the others out."  
  
"I'll have to talk it over with the others and some of them will not like the fact that you know who they are."  
  
"I only know you and possibly one of the others and I don't have a clue who the rest of them might be. I could make some guess though, based on what I know of you and your friends, but I won't do that."  
  
"Okay, I believe you. Let's head inside and grab something to eat and we can talk this over some more."  
  
"Sure."  
  
Just as they were stepping into the shrine, Rei heard her communicator go off and turned to look at Ranma. She debated it for second, then shrugged. "Stay right there, I don't want the others so see you until I've had a chance to talk to them."  
  
"Alright."  
  
She tapped a button and looked into the little screen. "What's up?"  
  
"Rei, we have another one of those little demons attacking the park, it's ripping up trees and beating up the people in the park." Sailor Jupiter said. Rei and Ranma heard her jumping about and fighting something while she was talking to them.  
  
"How long has this been going on?"  
  
"About ten minutes, we got here a little late to stop it from ripping up portions of the park."  
  
"Which park?"  
  
"The one near my apartment. Hurry up and get here, me and Venus are being overwhelmed." The communicator went dark and Rei turned to Ranma.  
  
"I'll help you out, those things are dangerous and you will need as much help as you can get."  
  
Rei glared at him, but was silently pleased with it as well. "Come on then, we need to make a three and a half mile run in a matter of minutes." Rei said as she pulled out her transformation pen.  
  
"I run ten to thirty miles every day Rei, I can do it faster than an Olympic runner. No problem, just point the way." Ranma said and turned away when Rei's clothing suddenly disappeared and left her naked for a fraction of a second. He kept them closed until he could feel the aura of fire that surrounded her flare up and stabilize.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Must you strip naked to do that?" Ranma said with a smirk.  
  
"Hentai!" Mars yelled and slapped him upside the head.  
  
Ranma was knocked back into a wall, he was smirking. "What, you would have preferred it if I didn't notice you were naked for that little show?"  
  
"W-what?" Mars gasped out, she started to blush.  
  
"Come on let's go, where is that park?"  
  
"T-that way..." Mars pointed, blushing a deep red.  
  
They took off running and Ranma let Mars take the lead, he had no trouble keeping up with her if he strained a little. He could run fast, but even Rei was pushing his speed to the limit. He hoped they arrived soon or he was going to run out of Ki to use. The run took just over four minutes and they skidded to a halt just inside the park and looked around. There was a battle going on in the center of the park with smoke and fire rising above the tree line. They also noticed that enough time had passed that the park had been evacuated. That was a good thing in Ranma's book, usually he was forced to protect innocents while fighting against Ryoga in one of his berserker rages.  
  
"Jupiter and Venus must be the only ones left to fight that thing." Mars commented as they moved forward.  
  
"Then let's hurry."  
  
"Sailor Mars!!"  
  
Ranma and Mars turned to see Sailor Moon rush into the park, skid a few feet, trip over a break in the sidewalk and slam face first into the ground with a loud thump. Mars ran forward and helped her friend up, surprisingly there wasn't any signs of damage on her. "Are you alright?" Mars asked.  
  
"Yeah, not the first time I did that. Hi Ranma." Moon said absently.  
  
"Hi Usagi." Ranma said.  
  
Moon blinked. "Huh?"  
  
"You have got to be the only girl in all of Tokyo with that hairdo and an aura like that Usagi."  
  
"Um...okay, keep it secret will you?" Moon asked sweetly.  
  
"Sure thing, you keep some of my secrets so I can keep yours."  
  
Mars face faulted. "How can you just stand there and just accept that? His knowing our secret identities places us in danger!"  
  
"I trust him and he is famous, you know how honor bound he is." Moon said and dismissed the subject. She headed into the park heading for the battle ground. Mars and Ranma looked at each other and shrugged.   
  
"You really don't have to worry."  
  
"I know, it's just weird that's all."  
  
They took off after Moon and were soon nearing the battle, the sounds of Jupiter and Venus fighting were still being heard, so Ranma breezed on ahead to see what was going on. Ranma was soon looking down from within the tree into small area of downed trees and large craters with smoke wafting out of them. It was one of those little guys again, easily recognizable in its plate armor, helmet, and gauntlets. Jupiter had seen better days, she looked like the thing was using her as a punching bag, a feeling he remembered all to well. Ranma could see that she was moving in such a way that her ribs were either broken or damaged. The blood running down her legs and arms from a series of minor cuts was also noticeable. They had to get them out of there, they were taking too much damage to be of use for much longer.  
  
He turned and looked at Venus on the other side of Jupiter, she was staggering around. It seemed clear to Ranma that at some point in the last few minutes she had tossed out some kind of chain attack and wrapped it around the monster's arm, he briefly wondered how she made such an attack. To bad the thing was using it to toss the poor girl around like a lead weight on a rope. With a yank Venus was pulled off her feet and lifted into the air and used as a weapon to hit Jupiter, her scream of shock was enough to make even Ranma wince in pain as the two Scouts collided. Both girls went down in a pile of legs and arms, only some downed trees kept them from being sent clean out of the area.  
  
A flash of blue caught Ranma's attention and he saw Mercury doing the same thing he was and waved at her as if nothing was wrong. She gaped at him as if he was mad. Ranma motioned over his shoulder to Moon and Mars and pointed Mercury out to them. He nearly fell over laughing as Moon waved just like he had, Mercury just glared back at them and pointing at Jupiter and Venus, as if trying to get us to act faster.   
  
Ranma shrugged and nodded. He motioned for the for the others to get ready while he reached deep inside himself for the power he knew he would need to fight this thing. With a grin he launched out of the trees and landed beside the thing and kicked it away just as it was about to attack Jupiter again. The thing flew back and rolled to it's feet a few yards away, it giggled and grinned at him. With a flash of speed, Ranma flew forward in an attempt to catch the thing off guard. He made sure to keep the thing occupied as Moon and Mars dragged the injured Jupiter and Venus out of the area.   
  
Remembering the last fight, he made some changes in how he fought it. Before, he had been trying to stop it without killing it and to stop it from hurting others. Discussion with Rei had led him to believe that these things were a deadly threat, one that the Scouts always tried to kill as quickly as they could. Focusing his Ki, Ranma brought his hands forward and fired off a large Möko Takabisha that hit dead center of the things chest and launched it across the clearing and through some trees. The good thing was he wasn't fighting it alone, it was just to strong and with the Scouts help they could all take it down. It was the perfect distraction to get it into a position the Scouts needed. Mars stepped out of the trees and fired off a blast of fire just as it was rising to it's feet and glaring at them for interfering with its mission. At the same time from two other sides, Moon did her giant pink heart and Mercury incased it in an ice blast. All three hit at once and exploded brilliantly, knocking Ranma off his feet. His senses picked up the still living mass inside the inferno and he brought both hands forward and launched a Double Möko Takabisha.  
  
This secondary explosion went off and finally finished off the little pest, he couldn't comprehend the sphere power of something this small. It reminded him again of the old ghoul and the pervert, about twenty times more powerful and annoying. It was as if they were combined into one being of immense power. He stood up and stretched as the Scouts dragged themselves out from behind cover, Ranma noticed the Jupiter and Venus were still out of it and covered in wounds. Ranma was about to walk over and do a more intensive check of the girls, when his senses picked up the arrival of a large power source. He looked around just in time to see Hotaru or Sailor Saturn run into the area, she made her way right over to Jupiter and Venus and started to heal their wounds.  
  
"How are they doing Saturn?"  
  
"They should be just fine Ranma, our Scout powers make us heal up real fast. It's just that something like this takes a little longer to heal than others."   
  
"Are you two going to be alright?" Ranma asked the two girls as they struggled to sit up.   
  
They both blushed and nodded.   
  
"Good, you two are very important to the team." Ranma said and patted them on the shoulder. He failed to see the little hearts that appeared in their eyes and the blushes that flared on their faces. Saturn just laughed and finished healing them.  
  
"You two remember that he is engaged to all those girls right?" Saturn asked.  
  
"...engaged..." Jupiter and Venus breathed out, their minds still in the gutter.  
  
Then they blinked and groaned. "It isn't fair, how can he be so perfect and still be single?" Venus asked.  
  
"I envy those other girls."  
  
"There are things about him that make his life pretty bad, would either of you want to be kidnapped on a monthly basis or be challenged two or three times a day like he is?"  
  
"Drat!" Jupiter snapped and stood up. "He looks even better than my last boyfriend too."  
  
**********  
  
"How's the ice cream?" Ranma-chan asked.  
  
"Pretty good." Hotaru said, she was enjoying herself more than she thought she would.  
  
Her and her uncle Ranma had decided to go out to eat, but she hadn't expected the reactions of the other people to be quite so extreme. The had eaten dinner and been subject to the waitress being struck dumb at the mere sight of Ranma. Though Hotaru was surprised to note that Ranma didn't seem to understand the effect he had on the opposite sex. They had received a free meal when the waitress, nearly choking on her own drool, had dumped a plate of food in Ranma's lap. Hotaru had a feeling it had been deliberate from the look of anticipation on the girl's face as she produced a rag to clean him up.  
  
From there it had gotten weird as girl after girl showed up at the table and asked him for an autograph. The autograph hounds were fine and quickly dealt with, but the ones that had pulled up their dresses and shoved their panties in his face had been a shock. Hotaru giggled to herself at the panicked look on his face as he bolted out of the restaurant. Living with Haruka and Michiru had given her a certain view on things and she had to admit that Ranma had this knack to attract very beautiful girls like flies to honey. Even the ones that threw themselves at him had been down right beautiful, if very obvious about their desires.  
  
After that they had walked around for awhile and gotten mobbed by yet another pack of girls. The ear piercing screaming of forty girls was a new sound that Hotaru wasn't going to forget anytime soon. It was almost like she was in the middle of a crowd of girls lusting after the 'Three Lights' band that had been making the rounds lately. Then she had the funniest and scariest thing in the world happen, Ranma had picked her up in his strong arms and launched them into the sky. A thrill went through Hotaru as she recalled the shock she felt as Ranma once again surprised her with is abilities. She had thought she had seen all the amazing things he could do, but this one had been the best yet.  
  
As a Scout she could run and jump like he could, but as normal human he could do things that were just super human. She wondered what would happen if Ranma were to ever receive Scout powers, they tended to amplify one's natural abilities as well as empower them with magical attacks. With Ranma the effect would be simply amazing, but even she knew that there was no way for him to get them so shrugged off the idea. That monster attack a few days ago had reminded her that even Ranma couldn't kill these things by himself. Sure he could hold his own, but in the end they needed all of them to take it down. Where these monsters were getting this power was beyond here, every enemy they faced seemed to get stronger and stronger too. What would the next one bring she wondered.  
  
"Earth to Hotaru?" Ranma called.  
  
The little girl blinked and looked up, gasped and jumped back in shock, knocking over her chair. Ranma was now a busty red head, she had spoon hanging off her nose, and had been less than an inch from Hotaru's face when she glanced up. Ranma just blinked and smirked as Hotaru fell down in shock, her eyes dancing with mischief.  
  
"Ranma!" Hotaru yelled.  
  
She blinked innocently as everyone in the ice cream shop took notice of them. "What's got you so spaced out that you are that unaware of your surroundings?" Ranma asked as Hotaru reseated herself, blushing, and made sure no one was watching them anymore before answering Ranma. She was also wondering when Ranma had turned female, they had come in here with him in his male form.  
  
"Just thinking about what happened a couple days ago at the park."  
  
"It was just a fight and we won, forget about it and move on."   
  
"We have a meeting at the temple to discuss what happened. That reminds me, I was to bring you along to meet the others, the want to meet you."  
  
"I don't know if that is a wise thing to do Hotaru..."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I wouldn't mind knowing who they are, but what I don't know won't hurt your friends and I gave my word to you and Rei that I wouldn't do anything to reveal your identities." Ranma said quietly.  
  
"Don't worry about it, there are others that have found out too and they have always kept the secret, I know you will too."  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Please?"  
  
Ranma shrugged her shoulders. "Sure if it means that much to you, but keep the Outers away, I don't want to deal with them again."  
  
"The Outers have been asked to leave you alone, though they have only seen you in this form. I heard them talking the other day and they never once mentioned your male aspect, so I figure so long as you stay out of their way as a girl you can work with them as a man."  
  
"Whatever, I'm just tired of fighting useless battles and they came damned close to killing me a while back."  
  
"Usagi took care of it though."  
  
"Maybe, but I have a feeling I will be fighting those girls again. You told me they were willing to disobey Usagi if they thought it was necessary, they will find a way."  
  
"Maybe, but don't worry about it now. I don't think they will attack you tonight."  
  
"No, but I am over due for an attack by one of my other enemies."  
  
"Really? Who is it this time? Toma, Kirin, Kuno, Ryu?"  
  
Ranma smiled. "You certainly know a lot about my life, is all that information on those cards?"  
  
"That and more, though they never said anything about the curses. We all thought the animals were just well trained or made up."  
  
"At least Nabiki kept that secret."  
  
"Yeah, I like knowing a secret no one else knows."  
  
They finished off their ice cream and got up to leave several minutes later, Hotaru stopped them at the door and looked at Ranma seriously.  
  
"What?"  
  
"When are you going to take that spoon off your nose?"  
  
"What, you don't like it?"  
  
*********  
  
He had a cure, he didn't turn into a pig anymore and Ryoga had been happy beyond belief and spent some time wandering around thinking of the times before Jusenkyo and the hell he had lived through because of it. He thought of all the times he had been forced to avoid things he loved to do, like swimming. Having to learn to avoid the water traps that were constantly making him turn into someone's dinner or ending up as some little girl's pet, that one gave him the creeps. Until he got his curse he had never know there were so many demonic little girls out there that were even worse than Azusa of the Golden Pair. A good number of them made that klepto look like an innocent little first year skater. Ryoga grinned and punched a tree as he was walking by, it exploded into splinters and collapsed around him. He barely noticed and his good mood just wouldn't go away, he was cured and Ranma wasn't. His revenge was nearly complete, Akane had dumped Ranma and Ryoga had a feeling he was the cause of that as well, he wondered what he would have to do to make it even better.   
  
He had to have revenge against Ranma, they were Rival/Enemies and sometimes even allies when it came to saving one of the girls. There was no way they would ever be friends in his eyes, there had been to much pain and suffering for Ryoga to forgive Ranma. He would never do that, he would keep on tracking Ranma down and attempting to kill him as he had been doing for the last two years. Oh sure, he could say that most of what had caused him to go through hell was now gone, after all that curse had been a good part of it. Still Ryoga hadn't defeated Ranma yet and that would be one of his main goals from now on. For all of Ranma's strength he didn't have his power or strength, only tricks and speed to defeat him.   
  
Then there was his other problem to think about, his family curse, the lack of direction sense. It wasn't as bad as it had once been, but he still had no clue where he was, just that it was a little easier to get from one place to another faster. Ryoga had passed the Tendo dojo at least once, but had decided that it wasn't time to deal with that part yet. So he had continued on and soon found himself in a jungle, again. He still couldn't find a the jungle on any map of Japan he had found either, he just knew that he tended to end up here every few weeks. Most of the village people knew him on sight and went out of their way to avoid him whenever he passed though. They had started to call him the 'Fanged Devil' at least that is what he thought they were saying. Their language was a little off and had a thick Japanese accent intermixed with a lot of clicking of the tongue and throat gargling sounds. He wondered if they were sick or something, then dismissed it as irrelevant since they liked to toss spears at him. It was good practice to catch, block, or dodge them as they flew in. Sometimes he even let them hit him, though it was a little odd to see them just bounce off his chest as it was a stone wall or something.   
  
Ryoga stepped around a tree and looked up to see a skyscraper and blinked for a few seconds, where in the hell was he now. He looked around and wondered how he had come to be in a park in the middle of a city, was it set at the edge of the jungle or something? He shrugged, one of these days he would figure out why things like this kept happening to him. He adjusted his over large back and headed across the park when he spotted a yatai set up doing some brisk business. He got in line and soon had a large meal sitting in his stomach, the first food he'd had in the last several days. Pretty typical for him really, usually he couldn't find a store, let alone a kitchen to get any food. Buying it was a pain since he had very little money, but he didn't let that stop him to often.  
  
He wandered around for several minutes taking in the sights, spotting several signs in Japanese was a good indicator that he was still in Japan. Then he remembered the time he wound up in Little Tokyo, Arkansas and figured it would be a good idea to figure out where he was exactly. He ended up in Russia and America far to often not comment on. Then as he was about to grab some random passerby and get them to tell him where he was, he heard some screams and spotted people running away from something a few blocks away. He headed in that direction, it took all his concentration to follow the sounds, and was soon witness to some of the weirdness that tended to plague Ranma on a daily basis, he hoped it wasn't catching though since he had felt sorry for Ranma on more than one occasion. Right in front of him was weird sight, a blue haired Sailor Scout was in a defensive stance facing off against a large Youma of some kind. It stood nearly 4 meters high and was make of muscle and fangs. It had to be one of the ugliest things Ryoga had ever seen and he had met a good number of ugly things in his travels.   
  
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Mercury yelled and fired off a her attack, encasing the monster in a pillar of ice. There is quite for a second then the ice cracks and shatters as the thing flexes it's huge muscles. Mercury is forced to dive out of the way just to avoid being impaled by the ice shards.  
  
Ryoga gaped for a second as a wave of super cold air washed over him from Mercury's attack, then dropped his pack and pulled out his umbrella. He took stock of the situation in a split second, then launched himself into the sky, twisted in mid air and landed in front of the girl as she was shaking her head. He growled and swung the super heavy umbrella and hit the thing across the jaw, the impact was like being hit by a train and sent the thing stumbling back several steps. "You will leave her alone!!"   
  
"Who...?" Mercury gasped as she looked up.  
  
"Ryoga Hibiki, we met the other day at the mall when we fought that little monster." Ryoga said without looking down.  
  
"Ryoga...oh yeah, watch out, these things can shrug off damage from a normal human as if it didn't exist, so be careful."  
  
"The one at the mall was a pain in the ass too."  
  
Mercury stood up. "Let me take care of this, me and my friends have the magic needed to take them down."  
  
"Are they on their way?"  
  
"Yes, I called them must before it attacked."  
  
Ryoga nodded, he didn't understand everything she had said, but figured she was saying he wasn't strong enough to kill one of these things. He would show her he had what it took to fight them, years of training had made him extremely strong. He turned and glared at the large monster as it was still shaking it's head from his attack. It took a lot of strength to shake off one of his attacks. His aura flared up around him and startled Mercury into stepping back, even repeated fights with Ranma hadn't conditioned her into ignoring these things yet. Ryoga brought his hands up and yelled out, his aura expanding outward a couple of feet and nearly blowing Mercury off her feet.  
  
"Shishi Höködan!!"  
  
"No don't..." Mercury said as her computer told her through her visor that it had completed its scans of the monster.  
  
The green blast rose up into the sky as he used the most potent version, then concentrated and formed another blast just as it hit the monster and let loose with a blast out of his hands. The first blast just weakened the thing while the second blast slammed into it and the screaming began. The thing stumbled back and coughed up a bit of Youma blood and fell to it's knees, a hole blown clear though it's chest. Then Ryoga launched forward and brought his umbrella around like a baseball bat and catapulted it across the street and through a wall.  
  
Mercury gaped.  
  
Ryoga just grinned and stood there and waiting for the thing to get back up and just nodded as it did so. His Ki senses picked up a number of high powered Ki signatures coming into the area and looked around as the rest of the Scouts came running up. Ryoga just yells and throws his umbrella at the thing's damaged chest. It works, but Ryoga is always underestimating his strength and didn't take that into account. The umbrella struck the monster and the sheer weight and momentum of his umbrella just plowed the thing backwards through a wall with a massive crash, crushing some of the monsters other bones. Ryoga noticed that the other Scouts were beginning to show up, he smirked at Mercury.  
  
"What was that, I defeated it easily."  
  
"No, you just made it mad." Mercury said as she continued to scan the thing.  
  
"It's not getting back up is it?"  
  
"He seems to have taken care of it to me Mercury." Jupiter said.  
  
"It's still alive." Mercury said.  
  
"WHAT?!!"   
  
"These things have been getting stronger and stronger lately and that last fight we had allowed me to get some better readings on these things. These things are changeing with every fight to better be able to take us down."  
  
"Mercury we took it down easily enough." Moon said.  
  
"Look what the next one did to Jupiter and Venus, it was even stronger and my scans of this one make it twice as strong as that one."  
  
"Huh?" Ryoga said.  
  
Ranma, now male, finally arrived with Hotaru and came up and stood beside Ryoga as everyone looked at the hole where the rubble was beginning to shift as the monster struggled to get up from under all that stone. Hotaru just stood in the background and made sure she would be able to transform before her Uncle Ryoga noticed. She did take the time to hug him though and smile at him, it made her giggle silently when he blushed and nearly fainted.   
  
"Ryoga did you look at it with your Ki senses?" Ranma said.  
  
"No, why should I?"  
  
"I didn't do it at the last fight either, but if you look at it you should recognize the signature. I'm kind of ticked I didn't notice it before."  
  
"What?" Ryoga growled and looked over and squinted his eyes. At first he didn't see a thing, then he sighed. "This is the same one we fought in the mall isn't it?"  
  
"Yes, I'm almost positive that it is adapting itself to our abilities. Every time we take it down it grows stronger and stronger. Now it has adapted itself to your Ki attack and bulking itself up so that it can stand against our strength and speed."  
  
The monster gives a heave and tosses a half ton piece of stone from the wall off itself and drags itself to its feet. Nearly all of the damage Ryoga had caused was gone and it seemed to have gained a few more inches in height and increased it's muscle mass, even it's fangs had grown longer and more evil looking as it crouched down and laughed at the one that had tried to take it down. Ryoga was impressed, even Ranma wouldn't have been able to stand up from being his umbrella like that, he would have dodged.   
  
"How are we going to stop these things if they can adapt to our attacks?" Venus asked.  
  
"Is there any limit to what it can do?" Uranus asked as she stepped up beside Hotaru. The young girl decided it was time to transform and nodded to her adoptive parents, she just needed an excuse to leave.  
  
"Hotaru, you get out of here, this is going to be a major fight in a few minutes." Ranma said, giving her a weird look.  
  
"Beat it squirt." Ryoga said and gave her a little push. "I agree with Ranma for once, you need to be kept safe."  
  
"Alright, but I want you two to be careful and let the Scouts deal with this. They have the magical power needed."  
  
"Don't you worry about it." Ranma said and rolled his eyes. He was also watching Uranus and Neptune out of the corner of his eyes, wondering how long it would be before they attacked him or Ryoga.   
  
Then they all heard chuckling and saw the monster rising to it's feet holding Ryoga's umbrella and grinning. It's teeth seemed to be glowing for some reason as it hefted the half ton umbrella. The Scouts all nodded and went into their usual half circle attack pattern and spread out to get into position. Ranma and Ryoga step forward and prepare to attack as well and unconsciously move like a well trained team.   
  
The Monster giggled.  
  
"Now!" Ranma yelled and shot forward in a blur, Ryoga right on his tail, they flared up their auras and fired. Blue and Green Ki swirled around each other and head right toward the monster's chest, but it just smirked and lifted it's hand and let the blasts hit it's hand. They exploded and shattered the concrete at the monster's feet. Ranma could already tell that it was unharmed as he flipped over the explosion. Ryoga rolled to the side and launched a half dozen bandanna's at it while he dodged out of the way.  
  
The Scouts went into action as they circled around the thing, most were a little surprised at the sight of the thing. It actually looked like a male demon of some kind. Considering they were used to dealing with vaguely female looking demons it was a little weird to see. They had developed strategies over the months they had been fighting and knew what to do when an enemy knew how to field a monster stronger than them. Mercury went first, tossing down a layer of fog that overwhelmed the senses of the monster. As it stopped in confusion, Jupiter went next and fired off a massive electrical blast that fried the thing. Venus went next and used her chain to tie the thing up while Mars, in tandem, fired off a wave of fire down the chain that burned off most of the fog while burning the monster with the magical fire. It screamed and fell over and burned for several second before it seemed to pop and turn to dust and vanish.  
  
"That's it?" Ryoga gasped.  
  
"Your right, they are usually a little harder to kill than that." Ranma said.  
  
Mercury looked at them and shrugged. "The next one will now be even stronger and immune to that attack as well as the Ki attacks."  
  
"Well at least I didn't have to fire off anything this time." Moon said.  
  
"You do realized that the next time we go up against it you will probably have to be the one that takes it down don't you?" Ranma said.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Mercury says that it is making itself immune to our attacks every time we hit it. You've only hit it once that I know of, so you can still hurt it...unless once is all it takes?"  
  
"No, it seems it takes two or three times before it can adapt a counter, otherwise it would have had us in the park a few days ago." Mercury said.  
  
"Crap..."  
  
**********  
  
Kakome stood and looked at her downed monster once again and frowned, she was beginning to understand how these girls had defeated all those other invaders. She stepped back and formed a ball of white energy in her hand and tossed it at the thing. The monster flared for a few seconds then lay there as its wounds healed and it's skin reformed. After about ten minutes it grunted and stood up, it looked fearful.  
  
"You failed again."  
  
It nodded.  
  
"I give you permission to talk."  
  
"Yes Master, it took the entire team to take me down this time, those two boys are wild cards and I am finding it hard to defend against them."  
  
"What are they using?"  
  
"It's not magic, I know that, some kind of life energy of some sort like you described, but they use more of it than a normal human should."  
  
A white sphere appeared in Kakome's hand and she used it to watch the fight again, her face was unreadable and impassive. After several minutes she looked at the monster again and shrugged. "It seems I need to look into those boys a little more, I had thought I understood them, but they are unpredictable. I may have to change the plan. You are dismissed."  
  
"Yes Master." The monster vanished in a puff of smoke.  
  
Kakome walked back over to her throne and sat down in thought, she could care less about this planet, but she did understand what the Scouts were trying to do. Protect this planet from her and her minions as they had done before with the others. Could she be going about this the wrong way? She sat back and thought about her goals and wondered if a different approach would be needed with this planet. If it had only a couple of super strong protectors she would have been done with this planet and moving on to another one. Instead her computers were telling her that there were no less than 25 individuals on this little mud ball with the power to irritate or impede her advance in search of the Artifact she wanted.  
  
That was a lot of protectors for one planet, what was here that required so many to keep it safe? On most other planets she had visited the average was anywhere from just one guardian to three if it was really important. Kakome blinked and sat forward, was there something special about this little spec of the universe that was important? She knew that several others had attacked this planet before, but had thought it was for the usual reasons like slaves and power. She tapped a button on her arm rest and waited as the floor opened and a computer console rose up for her use. As a scientist she had set this system up a long time ago to take care of the small things for her, an artificial intelligent computer system that ran her entire ship completely. It handled life support and anything else that was required for those living here to life comfortably.   
  
"Advise me."  
  
"Lilith is on line Master."  
  
"I want you to scan this planet's history and anything else that would help me to understand why they have so many powerful beings here. Any normal planet has one to three protectors and are usually easy to overwhelm, this one has 25 or more and are almost completely unpredictable. Some are magical, but a good number of them are something completely different than what we usually deal with, I want you to find out why there are so many."  
  
"Scanning planet more thoroughly will take some days, is this acceptable?"  
  
"How many exactly?"  
  
"Extrapolating....four days, seven hours, twenty four minutes to go through everything, another day to sift through it all and find what you are looking for."  
  
"Then do it."  
  
"Would you like some of the crew revived?"  
  
The crew, she almost grinned. On some of the planets she had been to, the inhabitants were more useful than others and she had converted some of them to help her out. When they were done she had placed them in suspended animation and just forgot about them, she hadn't talked to any of them in nearly a hundred years or more. Her quest had been a very time consuming and had even spent a large part of the last century in suspended animation. She considered the request and decided that since her drone wasn't getting the job done, maybe one of them could, she would be able to study the situation a little more as well, this was getting interesting.   
  
"Yes, wake up #347."  
  
"Scanning...#347's chamber is being located and moved, she will be up and about in six hours."  
  
"Excellent, show her the video's of our three fights with the Scouts and send her down to take them out if she can, or at the very least keep the occupied so that I can come up with better battle plans. Give her the equipment packet she used in the Solarian campaign."  
  
"Yes Master."  
  
Kakome grinned. She loved expandable personnel that were useful to the plans, no fuss and no muss ^^.   
  
**********  
  
"Ryoga!" Hotaru yelled and hugged the blushing boy.  
  
"Hi Hotaru, how have you been?"  
  
"Pretty good, though we have been having problems with those monsters lately."  
  
"I'll help out with that, your family and it seems your always around when these things show up."  
  
Hotaru blushed. "I'm not that bad!"  
  
"Well I'm here so your safe now."  
  
"Cool! With you and Ranma here we can protect everybody!"  
  
"Don't count on that honor less coward, he'll end up hurting you eventually, just like he does all the girl's in his life." Ryoga snapped under his breath.  
  
"What was that pig boy, I thought I heard you talking about honor." Ranma said mildly.  
  
"You stay out of Hotaru's life you bastard, I will not let you hurt her like you have Akane!"  
  
"She dumped me remember? Did your little piggy brain get damaged when you were hit on the head or something?"  
  
"RANMA!!"  
  
Ranma looked around as if looking for Ryoga's voice. "I seems to recall someone using their curse to go to bed with my fiancee. If you call that honorable Ryoga, I'll make sure you get your curse back."  
  
"DIE YOU BASTARD, I'VE HAD ENOUGH YOUR MOUTH!!" Ryoga yelled and launched himself at Ranma.  
  
"Ranma, Ryoga, cut it out!" Hotaru yelled. Behind her the rest of the Scouts, who had been following them to Rei's temple, backed off as both boys flared up. Rei grabbed Hotaru and dragged her off just as both boys started to punch each other.   
  
Ryoga, since his umbrella was destroyed by the fight earlier used his fists and nearly took Ranma's head off. In a blind rage he didn't see Ranma duck and use his speed technique to punch him in the stomach several hundred times. Ryoga gagged and backed up several feet and just grinned as he dropped his backpack to the side. "Your going to die Ranma."  
  
"Cut it out Ryoga, just back off and stop blaming me for all your problems will you?" Ranma snapped, he was so tired of this.  
  
"Never, because of you I have seen hell and I will get my revenge even if it takes me the rest of my life."  
  
"Your problems are your own fault Ryoga, you made the choice to go down that road in the first place."  
  
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Ryoga screamed and flared up even more before he jumped forward again. Ranma glared as he blocked and kicked to defend himself against Ryoga, but he was growing tired of this fight quicker than normal. He had fought a war with him and the others for the last couple of years. He recalled his last fight with Ryoga at the mall and his increased speed and power, where ever Ryoga had gotten the power increase it was enough to make him a lot more dangerous to deal with. Reaching deep within himself, Ranma tapped the power he had used against Saffron and let the Ki flow though him, turning his aura from blue to a sparkling gold and set his clothing to ruffling under the aura's power.  
  
"I've had enough!!" Ranma yelled. The came together again, their fists slamming into each other's arms as they blocked. The ground at their feet shattered and rose up in the air, but Ryoga just growled, shifted his weight and punched. Ranma was shocked as Ryoga punched at him with more power than he ever had before, enough to actually kill him if they had been fighting at normal levels. Even then it went right through his defenses and slammed into his ribs, Ranma grunted as he felt two of them break. Where in the world had Ryoga gotten all this power from, was he holding back all this time?  
  
"Aghh!" Ranma said and stumbled back holding his ribs.  
  
"RANMA!" The girls yelled.  
  
"Come on coward, it's time to receive your punishment and DIE!" Ryoga yelled.  
  
"Not in this lifetime idiot." Ranma mumbled and lifted his hand. Ryoga stopped in place, seemingly frozen in place. The Scouts gasped and Ami had her computer out in an instant, scanning for anything out of the ordinary.   
  
"Ranma what did you do him?" Usagi asked. All of the girl's could see Ryoga straining against something, his muscles bulging noticeably.  
  
"I don't know, I just knew I could do this if I wanted to. I've just never had a reason to do it before or the monsters were to strong or fast to use it against them very effectively." Ranma turned back to Ryoga and considered his options. "I've had enough of you and everyone in Nerima Ryoga, your all totally insane. You jump to conclusions and attack me with barely any cause, just weird ideas that you make up in your head to justify your actions. I'm out of Nerima, I'm out of that stupidity and I wasn't nothing to do with it anymore. Go away and find Akari or Akane, Ryoga, and see if you can finally get a date or something because if you keep this up one of these days I will stop holding back just because I consider you a friend."  
  
"I will never give up you honor less coward, I will destroy you and your life if it is the last thing I ever do!!" Ryoga hissed.  
  
"Ranma, my computer is telling me that Ryoga is full of negative magic and power. He may be possessed in some way."  
  
"If it's true it will explain his increase in power, but he's been like this since before I came to find Hotaru."  
  
"Huh? I thought this happened to him while he was gone?" Hotaru said, a little scared of Ryoga.  
  
"Nope, remember how I mentioned that he was stronger and faster during that fight at the mall? He's even faster now, at my level and that took me couple years of hard training to reach. He seems to have done it in two or three weeks and has had the last week or so to get even faster."  
  
"Idiot, do you think I just wander around looking for you between fights or when you run away? I train and train up to twenty hours a day, I train at all dojo's I stumble across and always keep your punishment in mind. I have worked for this!" Ryoga snarled and stained again, this time Ranma wasn't able to hold him and broke free of whatever was holding him.  
  
"No way, one doesn't improve that much in less than a month."  
  
"Oh my god, look out!!" Ami screamed and tackled her friends just as a black lightning bolt fell out of the sky and hit Ryoga in the back. The boy screamed at the bolt didn't vanish, instead it continued for several seconds as it cooked him and blew Ranma and the girls away from Ryoga. Then the world exploded in flare of black energy, Ryoga's screaming could be heard, but Ranma had no idea what to do about it. He Just stayed down and prepared himself for whatever happened next, he had been in Nerima to long not to have learned caution.  
  
He cracked his eyes open just in time to see the blackness vanish to reveal a smoking Ryoga, glowing with a greenish black aura, his eyes were a deep red. He takes a deep breath and starts to laugh as she stands up, black lightning arching around his body. "This is the day you die Ranma, I'm a hundred times more powerful now and even if you use all your strength your going to die by my hand."  
  
"Ranma, whatever that stuff was it has taken over Ryoga just like a Youma or Daemon from a year or so back." Ami said as she and her friends transformed for the second time that day.  
  
Ranma gulped and use his senses to see if she was right and had to hid his astonishment at what had happened to his friend. Ryoga had indeed become more powerful, he wasn't sure just how much, but it was far and above anything Saffron could have put out. The Lost Boy just laughed and vanished from sight, a second later he appears in front of Mercury and backhands her so hard she just drops to the ground in a spray of blood.  
  
"Mercury!!" All the girl's scream in horror.  
  
**********  
  
She opened her eyes slowly and looked around weakly, there was an mask over her face supplying her with air. Looking around slowly she noticed that she was in a small round metal container filled with some kind of pinkish water. There was a barely heard beeping sound and the liquid started to flow out of the container, as soon as it was gone she reached up and removed her mask. A hatch opened up in front of her and she stepped out of the thing, naked as the day she was born. She was of medium height, had dark skin, and long blue hair that fell around her in damp waves.  
  
At any other time she would have been swamped with drooling men, but since she was alone, she just walked over to a nearby box and opened it to reveal some weird clothing. Pulling these out she sat them to the side and ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head a little as she walked across the room and tapped a spot on the wall to make a small door open. Inside was a simple shower and she made use of this to the pinkish gel off her body and prepare herself for the day. Keeping her thoughts to herself she wondered why she had been revived, but decided she would find out soon enough. After several minutes she stepped out, dried off, and got dressed in her uniform.  
  
The uniform was the same as the one she had been using for all her life, first came her skin tight black body suit that functioned as a bit of light weight armor. Next was the dark blue coat that she wrapped around herself and tied off with a black sash. Then came the boots and gloves, both made out of a special temperature resistive material that looked a lot like a thick kind of black spandex of some sort that glistened in the room's light. Long, long ago she had been able to use her power to transform into this uniform at will, but Kakome had locked her into her powered up form and changed her in ways she still didn't understand. Over time she had become so used to being like she was that it barely bothered her anymore, power corrupts and all that.   
  
She smirked as she pulled a tray out of the box, it contained all of her 'weapons', first was the sword harness and it's sheath, then the regular belt she wrapped around her waist just under her sash that held all her little goodies. The sword was a masterpiece of technological design, made from the finest materials of her home planet from so long ago and one of the few things to survive her master's coming.   
  
"Good morning, Commander Hibera." Said Lilith.  
  
"Hello Lilith, what is going on?"  
  
"The mistress wants you to eliminate some super powered beings if you can or keep them occupied until she finds a way to take them out without to much fuss."  
  
"How many are there?"  
  
"Currently 25 for so, but only five or six you will be facing right off the bat."  
  
"I see, I will need all the info you have on them if I am able to do anything."  
  
"That is understood, please make your way over to the conference room and I will brief you on the guardians."  
  
The room was a few decks away and took her about twenty minutes to reach, it was a lot longer than it should have taken, but she had just woken up from an extended suspended animation and it would take her some days to get back into order and a few weeks to get back into shape completely. It was unlikely she would not be given the time to do so, but she would have a few days to get everything in order. It was the only drawback to being frozen like she and the others were, it was impossible to keep in shape when your asleep. The chemical bath she had just gotten out of was enough to revitalize her body, but it needed some real exercise before she would be back to 70% or so, right now she was at about 40% and in dire need of food.  
  
"Lilith, is there any food available?"  
  
"Of course, it has been set up in the conference room."  
  
"Perfect."  
  
*****  
  
Ryoga lowered his arm and smirked evilly at the girls, his aura burning around him and growing darker by the moment. His skin had paled as his body grew a few inches and seemed to expand with muscle mass. "Keep out of this fight Sailors, you are not my enemy here. You butted in last time at the mall, stay out of this man to man fight, it is a matter of honor."  
  
"You hit Mercury!" Moon yelled.  
  
"She is the smartest one among you and the only one of all of you that could have figured out how to stop me from tearing Ranma limb from limb. I will not allow that, I did not kill her either, just knocked her out."  
  
"I won't let you get away with this!" Saturn snarled. Her uncle was possessed or something, just like Ranma had been saying, now it seemed to be to late to help him, she could feel the rage flowing from him in waves.  
  
Ryoga ignored her as he turned back to Ranma. "I want this to be our final battle Ranma, I finally found a way to correct the difference in our power levels."  
  
"This is neither the time or the place Ryoga."  
  
"I have been trying to beat your for nearly six years now, I want to finish this battle and move on and I can't do that while you are still standing."  
  
Ranma looked into Ryoga's eyes for a few seconds and sighed, there was a steel there that hadn't been there in their last few fights. He nodded. "So be it, this will be our final fight."  
  
"Ranma don't do this, we have to help him!" Moon said as she stepped between both boys.  
  
"I'm sorry Sailor Moon, but we have to do this to satisfy honor." Ranma said.  
  
Ryoga snorted. "Honor, right, your the enemy of all women. You use them and discard them with contempt, you insult them and hurt them, you and your honor have hurt more people than just me, but I will be putting you in your grave today Ranma."  
  
Ranma smiles at Usagi and pushes her to the side. "Don't worry about me, Ryoga has been blaming me for his problems for a long time now. He is only able to see me as the bane of his existence, his enemy that he blames all his problems on. This is no different than any of those other fights, except this time neither of will be holding back as we fight."   
  
"But..." Moon started.  
  
"Please stay out of this Sailor Moon."  
  
"Ranma, let us help, please!" Saturn pleaded.  
  
"NO! Stay out of this, it has been building for some time now."  
  
"Are you ready yet Ranma?" Ryoga whined and smirked.  
  
"Shut up pig boy!"  
  
"That won't work anymore, I'm no longer cursed, remember?" Ryoga said snidely.  
  
Ranma took up a stance as the girls backed off to watch and wondered if they were doing the right thing. They didn't like this one bit, Ryoga was radiating enough negative power to let all of them feel it. Even without Mercury's computer it was easily detectible, they had to help some how, but Ranma wouldn't let them. As they moved Mercury out of the way Ranma and Ryoga launched themselves at each other and were nearly knocked off their feet from the back lash of energy as the two boys slammed into each other. Ryoga was like a bull as he moved, loud and dangers, while Ranma was glowing like a blue star, his clothing rippling under the power of his own aura.  
  
They traded blows back and forth for several seconds, moving so fast that they were barely seen blurs to most people. Ranma tested Ryoga's new strength by leading him into one of the many little traps he had used to take the Lost Boy down before. Ryoga wasn't reacting like he usually did, this was pure hate and anger fueling him now and Ranma wasn't sure how to handle that. He and Ryoga had been fighting each other for a long time now, to test out new moves, to perfect others, and even work off stress. This was different and Ranma didn't like it, he didn't want to hurt Ryoga, no matter what he said to others. He had always thought Ryoga felt the same way even when he was threatening to kill him and stuff.  
  
"Quit holding back Ryoga, I want to see what you can do before I take you down." Ranma said evenly.  
  
"There is now holding back in this fight Ranma, you will die, there is no other choice."  
  
"You may have been cured, but you obviously didn't learn anything from being the pig did you?"   
  
"I don't think you quite understand what has happened to me do you Ranma?" Ryoga said with evil humor in his voice and swung his arm out to back hand Ranma.  
  
Ranma twisted and dodged as he turned a confused look on his rival. "Why do you say that?"  
  
"That black lightning filled me with power and shattered the barriers in my head that kept me from doing certain things. Since they no longer exist I can now kill and destroy anything I like and you won't be able to stop me. It freed my mind, it gave me power beyond yours, and I embraced it with out hesitation just so I could kill you!!" Ryoga snarled.   
  
Then did the unexpected, he seemed to waver and Ranma's punches became useless as the Lost Boy stepped into his defenses and started to pound on him at amazing speeds. Ranma couldn't believe it as he found himself on the defensive, something he rarely was with Ryoga. Each of his blows felt as if they were ten times as powerful as what he had been doing before, he could feel each one of them as they landed and knew he wouldn't last long against this kind of power. Then Ryoga went into a lightning fast crouch and came up underneath him like an avenging angel and hit him with an upper cut that sent Ranma flying.  
  
"RANMA!!" The Scouts screamed. They had all saw the small spray of blood that accompanied the blow and glared at the Lost Boy, he wouldn't get away with even if he was just possessed by something.  
  
Ryoga just started to laugh. "He is beaten, I took him down after all this time!"  
  
Ranma came down about a block away, impacting against a wall and shattering it with his body. A nearby water pipe broke and sprayed him with cold water, turning him into his female half. The red head groaned as she assessed the damage and cursed herself for letting her guard down against the idiot, she hadn't taken a blow like that in a very long time. She slowly pulled herself out of the rubble of the wall and staggered around a little, as she watched laughing boy proclaiming his victory. Ranma had to admit that it was also the first time Ryoga had ever come this close to beating her.  
  
Ignoring her pain, Ranma gathered a quick ball of Ki in her hands and fired it at Ryoga. The little blue missile streaked down the block, Ranma running after it, and hit the Lost Boy in the chest. Ryoga was caught by surprise and blown off his feet with a grunt of pain, but Ranma was already in the air as he started to sit up and landed knee first on his chest and blowing all the air out of his lungs and using his Amaguriken to punch him in the face several hundred times per second. Ranma hadn't used this attack against Ryoga in a while, but the last time he had it had worked as well as usual, but this time Ryoga didn't even seem to feel it.   
  
The palm of his hand came out of nowhere and slammed into Ranma's chin and sent her flying back, but she just cart wheeled and slid to a stop. She spit out some blood from her split lip and grinned, she hadn't had a decent fight in a long time and Ryoga knew how to do it best. He was one of the few people that could stand up to her when she really let loose and this possession seemed to have made his endurance even higher, it was like hitting a steel wall or a dump truck. Ryoga slowly growled as he made his way to his feet, his aura glowing a black/green color as he moved.   
  
"Is that baby slap all you can do now Ranma, your female body is even weaker than your male one. How do you expect me to beat you up if one of my hits could break you like a piece of glass?"  
  
"..." Ranma narrowed her eyes and felt her anger boil.  
  
"Your weak and pathetic now, your still cursed, weak, and still being affected by the transformation. Do you find boys good looking in that form Ranma, Kuno perhaps, me, how about your friends at school?"  
  
"Ryoga, your pushing the wrong buttons if you think that will work."  
  
"They seem to be working to me, but if they don't work, how about I kill two birds with one stone and have my way with Akane? I still want her you know and using her to manipulate you is so easy. Just imagine her reaction when I have my way with her and her sisters Ranma, you are to weak to stop me and my revenge against you would be finished."  
  
"If you touch them Ryoga, I will kill you just like I did Saffron." Ranma growled out.  
  
"Sorry Ranma, but I have been thinking about Saffron and I know that he isn't as strong as he could have been. You interrupted his transformation and he 'hatched' as a weakling compared to what he could have been. Cologne, Hopposai, me, you, and perhaps Shampoo could have taken him down. Cologne especially since she taught you the move that took him out, your a pathetic weakling compared to what I am now and I will make you suffer for all eternity."  
  
Before Ranma could even say anything Ryoga was in his face using her as a punching bag, his speed twice what it was before. She gasped and wondered what the hell was going on again, this just didn't seem to be her day. A knee to the chin and a kick to her ass send her sprawling into the pavement, giving her a taste of asphalt. Then Ryoga was there grabbing the back of her head and lifting her up into the air, squeezing her skull just to the point of crushing it with his bare hands. Ranma had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming in pain, she wouldn't give the pig the satisfaction of hurting her.  
  
"How does it feel to be outclassed Ranma? This is what you make me feel like every time you beat me up, every time you call me a name or insult those I care about. You are going to suffer before I kill you."  
  
Ranma could have sworn she heard her skull cracking under the pressure of Ryoga's hand and she was just a bit surprise to find that she was about to be killed. She hadn't been sure that Ryoga could actually ever do it, but the negative energy that Mercury had mentioned must have really screwed Ryoga up. She grit her teeth and looked deep in her mind and body for a way to survive, deeper and deeper she went until she could touch her soul and saw something that she had never seen before. She sent a mental hand out to examine it and was surprised when it leapt up and seemed to swell and heave inside her.  
  
Laughing insanely, Ryoga crowed and slammed Ranma's head into the ground and shattered the concrete in all directions. Lifting the limp body up he repeated the action several times and turning Ranma's face to a bloody pulp, laughing all the while at this victory. Behind him the Scouts watched in frozen horror as Ranma was killed and Sailor Moon was having problems convincing herself to stay out of the fight like Ranma had requested. She had doubts and that was bad, a friend was being killed right before her and she didn't know what she should do. She had made a promise, but this was getting out of hand and it was obvious to her that Ranma was about to die. She made the only decision she could and started to step forward...  
  
"Stop..."  
  
Sailor Moon spun around to look at Mercury as she opened her eyes. "Mercury?"  
  
"D-don't go over there Moon, Ranma is planning something, I can feel it."  
  
Mars, who was about to go and help Usagi nodded. "I can feel something too, but I don't know what it is."  
  
"Ranma is about to die, we have to save her."  
  
There is a ruffling of cloth and Tuxedo Mask appears right behind Sailor Moon and holds her. "Do not interfere in this Sailor Moon, Ranma and Ryoga have to settle this alone no matter what has happened to one or the other. They would not want you to interfere in their fight."  
  
"...But Ryoga is possessed!"  
  
"Then we will take him down after Ranma has failed. He is a man, even with his curse, and will push himself to the limits to win this fight. They both agreed to do so and this is the price, let them finish."  
  
"I...I...can't..." Sailor Moon said and hung her head and called her scepter. "I have to save both of them and I won't let either of them die."  
  
"Then wait until Ranma is unconscious." Tuxedo Mask said.  
  
"...No, I will do this now..." Moon said and pushed him out of the way as the others watched.  
  
The rest of the Scouts stood and nodded, following Sailor Moon's lead as she stepped around her boyfriend and looked at the fight. They were her friends, Hotaru's family, and she would not let either one of them die...  
  
Then something happened and they all froze in shock, their eyes nearly popping out and their jaws hitting the ground. Ranma's blue aura has flared up as Ryoga tried to crush her head and she screamed, not in pain, but as a release. Blue light lit up the area until it turned white and blasted into them, blowing them off their feet. Ranma's scream increased in volume until it was loud enough to shatter glass and could be heard through out a good portion of the city. Then...  
  
KKKKKKKAAAAAA-BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!  
  
The world exploded.  
  
Only Usagi saw the flare of the Pluto symbol on Ranma's forehead.  
  
**********  
  
  
End Notes - Dont jump to conclusions just yet, this will be explained in a chapter or two. ^^; 


	5. Chapter 04

Notes - It's been a while since I last updated this, but I decided that this would make a good chapter to release so that it could resolve the cliff hanger I left in the last chapter and introduce the next opponent to the scouts. Let me know what you think  
  
  
  
**********  
Uncles!  
Chapter 04  
by Cory D. Rose  
ertle2@msn.com  
(c) 2002  
**********  
  
The explosion of light went off like a bomb and spread out over the entire area, enveloping Ryoga, the Scouts, and even some of the nearby buildings, but it had the most effect on Ranma herself. He mind seemed to expand out and her body flared with pain unlike anything she had ever encountered before. She screamed as her body went numb and her vision darkened. Then she noticed a point of light on the horizon and went to it instinctually and everything returned to her in an instant. She fell to her knees and gasped for air as she tried to figure out what had happened. Where was Ryoga and why did she feel so funny and weak all of a sudden.  
  
There were trees everywhere, no matter where she looked all he could see in every directions were leaves, wood, and plants. Ranma had been all over the world and she knew what one was supposed to look like. She even spotted bugs and rabbits running around as if nothing was wrong. The last thing she remembered was fighting with Ryoga and her final effort to defeat him. She wandered around the forest and wondered how she had gotten here. Then in the distance she spotted something weird moving through the trees, something humanoid, but to far away to recognize.  
  
Launching into the trees, Ranma was soon bouncing from branch to branch almost faster than the eye could follow, she was still weak, but it was fading fast now that she had gotten stretched out a bit. She remembered a time a some years ago when she and her father had done this all the time, but decided that thoughts like that were not needed now, something was wrong. Within a few minutes she was nearly on top of the person she had spotted so she came to a rest in a tree and looked around carefully. Below her was a faint trail that had become over grown in the last few years and spotted someone that she had not expected to see this soon.  
  
It was Ryoga.  
  
Of all the people to see he was pretty far down the list since she had just left him back home in the middle of a blast crater. Even more amazing was the fact that he looked...normal, no signs of damage, no dark aura, no murderus rage. Instead he looked a little tired, hungry, and was setting up a basic camp. The type he always set up when he had no place to stay, he was even using the same tent he used to use when he got lost around Nerima and lugged around in this giant pack.  
  
She watched for several minutes, keeping her aura down so he would not see her and noticed that he was setting up a kettle of hot water on his special metal rig that he used to pour hot water over himself when he was a pig, it could be set up in either form to make things easier. Why in the hell was he setting that up? He had been cured by Usagi hadn't he? This was starting to feel weird, what was the moron up to?  
  
Ryoga stood up and stretched and walked away from his camp then started to go through his morning kata, throwing punches and kicks that could collapse walls and shatter stone. Ranma had always marveled at Ryoga's strength and known that his style was designed to work with that extreme power, as far as she knew, all of Ryoga's family had the ability. At just sixteen the Lost Boy could lift several tons over his head like some kind of monster. Ranma watched all of this in confusion, she just could not understand what was going on.  
  
Then the most incredible thing happened, it started to rain out of a clear sky and Ryoga screamed in horror and vanished within his clothing. Ranma's eyes tripled in size as she saw the little black pig crawl out and sigh in depression. It let off a loud squeal and let off a mini Shishi Höködan that blew up a nearby tree. Ranma had nearly fallen out of the tree when he transformed, when he fired off his attack she flopped out of the tree and landed head first in shock. She was up in an instant, but the little pig didn't seem to have noticed her fall, instead it walked over to the fire and tipped the kettle with a little leg.   
  
A few seconds later Ryoga was human again and stalked to his clothing cursing Ranma for all was worth. Ranma was a bit surprised Ryoga knew a number of those words, she didn't even know the meaning of over half of them. She stood there and watched as Ryoga failed to even see her, instead he had gone back to training. Ranma walked forward, keeping on guard for when Ryoga noticed her. After several seconds Ranma walked around Ryoga, there was not way the moron could miss her. So of course Ryoga doesn't even seem to notice him, just throws a few hundred punches and continues to growl under his breath.  
  
"Ryoga, what the hell are you doing?!" Ranma yelled at him and punches him in the head.  
  
At least that was what she wanted to do, instead her fist flies forward and passes through his head like a ghost would. Phasing through one side and passing through without stopping. Ranma is so shocked that she gasps and completely throws herself off balance, sending her sprawling to the ground. Bounding to her feet she took a defensive stance, but Ryoga still had not seemed to acknowledge her presence. She looked at her hand and tried to slap the Lost Moron. Again it passed through him like he didn't exist, she could feel nothing as her hand passed through him.  
  
"Ryoga can you hear me?" Ranma asked, slightly panicked.  
  
No response.  
  
"Listen here you jerk, if you don't answer me I'm going to blast you into the ground!" Ranma screamed in frustration and started to attack Ryoga, but it proved useless, it was like trying to beat up the very air. After several minutes Ranma had to stop and gasp for air and glared at Ryoga, who still hadn't noticed her. Ranma growled and stomped over to Ryoga's kettle, but her hand passed through that as well. She stood there in shock for several minutes, unable to move or comprehend what was going on.  
  
During this time Ryoga continued to practice, moving from his strength training to learning to how to get faster. Eventually he stopped and relaxed for several seconds before flaring up his pale green aura, all the time mumbling under his breath and looking more and more depressed. Eventually even Ranma took noticed and she turned to watch Ryoga practice using his Ki aura. She could see his power, but she noticed the couldn't feel it in any way like she should have. Ryoga's aura was large enough that she should have felt it long before she saw it.  
  
Ranma was getting scared, a strange feeling for her after everything she had been through before. She ruthlessly surprised her fear and continued to watch as Ryoga cupped his hands and fired off several large blasts, the streaked out several yards before curving back and flying back at him from all directions. Then he went into a strange stance that Ranma had never seen him use before and exploded into movement built not of speed, but pure strength and power. Pretty typical Ryoga. His fist flew out and punched one of the balls of Ki to make it explode around him, the rest of them flew into the conflagration. Detonations went off all over the area, sending a huge column of smoke and dust rising into the air.  
  
The effects of the blasts quickly dissipate and Ranma can see that Ryoga is still stading, though his clothing is still smoldering and cut in several places. Even more amazing is that his aura is still flaring strong. Ranma was impressed, she had never seen Ryoga take so much damage and still be able to stand. Then smirked as Ryoga groaned and fell flat on his face and sent up another wave of smoke and dust. Eventually Ryoga climbed to his feet and shook the dust off and staggering over to where Ranma was watching from the camp.  
  
"Ryoga can you hear me?" Ranma asked again.  
  
Ryoga just staggered past her and slumped down in front of the fire and used the hot water that was left over to cook up some instant Ramen from his pack. After eating he relaxed for a few minutes before he stood up and began packing up his stuff. Ranma again tried to hit the moron, but only made a fool out of himself. She was beginning to wonder if he was dead or something, but for some odd reason knew that wasn't it, something else was going on.  
  
"Oh no Ryoga, if you go I will follow you, got that piggy!" Ranma growled as Ryoga finished packing up his stuff and stamped out his fire before heading deeper into the woods. Ranma stuck to him like glue, trying to get him to notice her. They passed countless trees, passed through at least one cave, located and passed one of the hugest trees Ranma had ever see, and ended up at the camp again by the end of the day. Ryoga noticed this and snarled.  
  
"RANMA, THIS ALL YOUR FAULT!!"  
  
"Grow up Mr. P." Ranma muttered. If Ryoga stubbed his toe, Ranma was the reason, not because Ryoga wasn't watching where he was going. This had happened so many times in the last four hours that Ranma wondered if she might have actually done something to the idiot, but shrugged it off. Everything she had seen suggested that Ryoga was just stupid and easily distracted. Then again she had seen his direction curse in action hundreds of times to just dismiss it out of hand. Perhaps the Lost Idiot had good reason for hating her as much as he did, but Ranma doubted it.  
  
Ryoga didn't wait around to long before heading out again and Ranma followed him since he was her best chance of figuring out what where she was or what was going on. This time Ryoga took to a path and flowed it for some time, weaving in and around trees, Ranma figured it had to be deer trail of some kind. It weaved and turned and doubled back on its self almost as much as Ryoga did. She kept her patience with him since hitting and yelling at him seemed pointless, she couldn't touch him or yell at him so she just tagged along. The ghost thing had Ranma nervous, but she didn't feel dead and she could touch the trees and ground, just not the Ryoga. So there had to be a better explanation than if she was dead, hell she could even detect her own life energy and it was as strong as ever.   
  
She ignored the fact that she couldn't read Ryoga's Ki though, it was like he didn't exist or some thing. They walked for several hours and Ranma was getting more than a little irritated at being behind the Lost Moron without him even knowing she was there. Several times she tried to hit him again, especially when he decided to circle trees for no discernible reason that she could see. He would just walk up to one, walked around it several times and move on to another one. She was bored too, but if she hadn't been watching the jerk walk she would have missed it as this light flared around his body and the world shifted. Ranma stumbled to a stop and gaped around her like an idiot.  
  
Where they had been walking through a forest a few seconds before, they were now on the side of a mountain with no trees in sight. Ryoga just continued to plod on ahead like nothing had happened, now heading up a mountain trail that looked like it hadn't been used in some time. Shaking her head, Ranma chased after Ryoga and caught up to him just as he rounded a small cliff edge and came to a stop. He looked around in confusion and started to growl as a green glow formed around him.   
  
"WHERE IN THE HELL IN I NOW!!!!" Ryoga screamed and let off a rather large Shishi Höködan.   
  
Ranma paled and dove for cover as it rose several hundred feet in the air, looking like a small sun as it hovered at the top of it's arc before beginning to fall back towards the two of them. "Ryoga you idiot!"   
  
The blast landed right on top of Ryoga and exploded with enough force to wipe out a large section of the area. Much to Ranma's surprise, the blast seemed to pass through her as it was nothing. Bits and pieces of shrapnel went in one side of her body and out the other side without doing any damage, even though it ripped the area to shreds. Then something weird happened and Ranma gawked in astonishment as the world around her started to slow down to a crawling pace while she stayed normal and her eyes were drawn to something she hadn't noticed before.  
  
A large stone was set up to block the entrance to a cave and wrapped in a powerful spirit ward. It looked ancient, like nobody had been here to see it in hundreds or thousands of years. The white cloth like wards were innocent enough, but even Ranma could tell that the ward was a powerful one and the Lost Moron's blast wave was heading right towards it. It was like watching a bad science fiction movie as Ryoga's Shishi Höködan leveled that part of the mountain and blasted the boulder and ward to nothingness.   
  
Ranma staggered out of the way when the spot she was standing one vanished and she had to spend a few seconds jumping and rolling to safety. She caught some movement and watched as a black like mist geyser out of the hole and high into the sky before it changed direction and headed right for Ryoga who was just beginning to get over the release of his blast. He didn't even have time to scream as the fog grabbed him and lifted his vulnerable body into the air and started shoving itself down his throat. Ryoga did fight back, but that was a little hard to do when your body is convulsing and writhing in intense pain. Ranma ran forward to help him, but found she still couldn't help him when her hands passed right though his body. She ground her teeth in frustration. Ryoga's screams of agony continued for some time before they cut off and he lay there in a pool of black fog at the bottom of the crater and did not move.   
  
"You're still an idiot aren't you Ranma?"  
  
Ranma's head snapped up and she looked to see Ryoga standing beside her, she could see right through him. A ghost of some kind she thought, before glaring up at him and snapping at him for that comment. "I am not an idiot Ryoga."  
  
"You don't even know what's going on do you?"  
  
"Like you do, Moron?"  
  
Ryoga laughed, one of the few times Ranma had ever heard the sound without the bitterness or depression evident in his voice. "Ranma, think about what you've seen in the last few hours. What happened to me?"  
  
"You wandered around aimlessly and blew up the side of a mountain."  
  
Ryoga shook his head. "No Ranma, don't you remember our last fight?"  
  
"The one where you were possessed?"  
  
"Yes, and now what just happened to me here?" Ryoga said slowly, as if dealing with a child.  
  
Ranma growled and decided the Lost Moron was in for a beating the next time she could touch him. "You were possessed again, you idiot!" Ranma yelled and tried to slap him in the back of the head.  
  
"No, this is where I was first possessed about a month ago." Ryoga said and smirked as Ranma's hand passed through his head.  
  
"This is now Ryoga."  
  
"No Ranma, this is a vision of the past and it is telling you what happened to me."  
  
"And how is that possible Ryoga?"  
  
"I don't know, there is something within you that is showing you this. You can't touch anything because this is just a memory replaying itself for you, a vision that can't not be touched. I'm not sure how you're doing it, but I can take a guess or two."  
  
"Like you have clue." Ranma snapped.  
  
Ryoga shook his ghostly head and thumped Ranma across the head hard enough to send her to the ground. "Idiot, think this through for once. What ever happened to me has allowed me see though my anger and depression for the first time in years and your sitting here arguing over stupid stuff."  
  
Ranma dragged herself to her feet and took a swing at Ryoga...and passed right through him again, she squawked in surprise, again.   
  
"Hahahaha Ranma, you're just not looking at this in the right way and it is placing you at a serious disadvantage."  
  
"I'll get you for that P-Chan!"  
  
The Lost Boy stepped over to Ranma and slammed his fist down into their back, sending her to the ground again. "I don't have much time Ranma, I can feel myself fading already. I'm here because of you, I know that, but not why."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Ranma mumbled as she slowly and painfully sat up. How could he touch her if she couldn't touch him?  
  
"This vision we're in is unstable, I can feel it beginning to come apart at the edges even as we argue with each other."  
  
"So what, the sooner it's over the sooner were out of here."  
  
"Maybe, but remember what you were doing before it started Ranma. I was kicking your ass!"  
  
"YOU WERE NOT KICKING MY ASS!!" Ranma screamed.  
  
"Yeah whatever, just remember what was happening."  
  
"The last thing I remember is you...slamming me repeatedly into the ground by my neck and trying to kill me." Ranma mumbled, not wanting to admit it.  
  
"Yep, and I was enjoying every minute of it too you asshole."  
  
"WHY YOU!"  
  
"Hahaha you should see you face Ranma!" Ryoga laughed and faded from view.  
  
Ranma rolled to her feet and looked around franticly, but he was gone. "Sheesh, he can even get lost standing in one place!"  
  
The world lurched around her suddenly and real time seemed to start again as the last of the explosion seemed to finally finish itself. Ranma noted that Ryoga's body was buried in the rubble of the blast, but a groan proved that he was still alive. She backed off to watch as he stood up and seemed unscathed, the look of confusion on his face was a surprise though, as if he had no idea what had happened to him. Without a word Ryoga gathered up his dropped pack and staggered off down the mountain. Ranma followed at a distance, since she knew this was just a memory now she wanted to know what was going to happen next.  
  
What she saw as Ryoga walked along was a black and green aura that flared around him every now and then. She had heard enough stories and had enough experience with possession to know that Ryoga had no idea what had happened to him or had blocked it out. There was enough evidence that Ranma was almost sure that if she managed to get Ryoga unpossessed every thing he had done or experienced would be forgotten.   
  
Ranma followed him until he made camp, practiced some more, and went to bed. She saw as he spent the whole night surrounded in a black aura of some kind...  
  
**********  
  
"WHAT THE HELL?!!" Ryoga screamed as Ranma exploded in light. A concussive wave of some kind hit him and blasted him through nearby wall and forced him to drop the red head's body. She hit the ground hard enough to bounce and lay there, her body still glowing with some kind of power. Ryoga didn't care, he was just a one small step away from completing his revenge and these girls were in his way. He pulled himself out of the hole and turned to glare at them.  
  
Seconds later the Sailors attacked, fire and electricity flared and fired into him just as he was beginning to stand. He thrust his hand out and use his Ki to blow Mars and Jupiter off their feet, sending them flying down the street. Then the caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Moon kneeling down with a scepter raised above her head. It flared with golden power of some kind and fired. Ryoga blinked at the sheer amount of power being thrown at him and had just enough time saw one thing before it turned into a giant pink heart and slammed into him with the force of a train.  
  
"OH SHIT!!"  
  
Ryoga's black aura flared around him and he screamed as the energy of the attack seemed to fill his body, running along his inside like electricity, invading his whole being. Though the attack took less than and instant to run it's course, to Ryoga it seemed to take hours as he was invaded and changed by the power. Just as he thought he was dead, it stopped and he slumped and staggered around a little. He had never been in so much pain in his whole life, it felt as it his bones had been shattered and his muscles ripped to shreds. The pain quickly turned to anger though and a red hazed descended on the Lost Boy and screamed in rage.  
  
The black aura flared and Ryoga rose his arms to the sky and screamed in rage as he powered up, shattering the concrete all around him and lifting it into the air. His hate filled eyes turned to glare at Sailor Moon and promised her a slow and agonizing death. Ryoga took a step forward and snarled, ground at his feet still cracking. "YOU BITCHES ARE SO DEAD!!"  
  
"I will not allow you to hurt my friends!" Moon yelled back and started to twirl her scepter again. Behind and around her the rest of the Scouts took up their places and charged their powers. While off to the side Sailor Saturn knelt by Ranma and examined her injures with a frown on her face as she looked up at Ryoga...a member of her family.  
  
Dark thoughts passed through Hotaru's mind as she tried to deal with this, her uncles or whatever they were, were trying to kill each other. They had been a lot of things to each other if the stories she had read about them were true. Ryoga blamed all his problems on Ranma while Ranma denied what ever it was Ryoga was mad about. They were sometimes friends, rivals, and enemies all in one package and she didn't know how to help them. Glancing over at Ryoga again she knew what she had to do, but didn't wasnt to do it. There were very few times when she had liked being a Sailor Scout, all it seemed to bring about was pain and suffering that she had to endure. The death of her mother, father, the rest of her friends, just about everybody that had ever cared about her.  
  
Then Haruka and Michiru had come along and given her something she needed badly, a family that actually cared about her again. Then the rumors at school had started, about her being evil and mean, doing this like hurting people for no reason. Being mocked by everyone and judged for the slimiest of reasons, it had broken her heart and nearly destroyed her. Ryoga and Ranma hadn't cared about what others said and accepted her for who she was and even offered to help her out when she needed it. She stood up and bowed her head, Ryoga was going to kill her friends, she had to do as her duty told her. Someone grabbed her ankle when she stood up and she looked down to see Ranma looking back up at her.  
  
"H-Hotaru..."  
  
"Ranma you're hurt, just rest, I need to stop Ryoga before someone dies."  
  
"Listen...Ryoga is possessed...he can be saved..."  
  
"I know he's possessed...but there are no other options left."  
  
"You're wrong..." Ranma gasped and collapsed back into unconsciousness.  
  
Saturn bowed her head, she did no want to kill Ryoga, but she could see no other options. Then she looked up and saw Sailor Pluto standing in front of her with sad eyes. "She's right you know, there is another option."  
  
"Have Usagi use the Moon Healing Escalation on him."  
  
"She would have used that by now if she thought it would work."  
  
Pluto smirked, a very strange sight. "This is the same girl who is always late to school and can't take ten steps without falling on her face?"  
  
"Oh...lets go and tell her, Ryoga is getting pretty worked up." Saturn said with a gesture.  
  
"I can't." Pluto said.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"She is mad at me, I made a mistake and she threatened me. Just like Queen should do, she has to forgive me before I can take up my normal duties again."  
  
"I don't understand...can you look after Ranma there until were done?"  
  
"So then it is true...that girl is Ranma?"  
  
"Yes, I'm surprised you didn't figure it out before this."  
  
"I need the Time Gate to see the past Saturn, when my staff was...destroyed by Ranma, I lost the thing I needed to focus the gate and use it. It was only a few minutes ago that is showed me where I had made my mistake. We'll talk more later, go tell Usagi to use her brain for a change." Pluto said with a smirk and stepped over to Ranma.  
  
"I'm sorry for attacking you."  
  
"Eh..." Ranma shrugged painfully.  
  
"I'll make it up to you, but with my staff gone there isn't much I can do."  
  
"It'll work out..." Ranma said and passed out.  
  
Pluto just shook her head and tended to some of Ranma's wounds while Saturn went to talk to Sailor Moon. She ran forward to intercept Ryoga just as he finished screaming, she pivoted and slammed the butt of her glaive into his stomach, spun and knocked him off his feet. The blade came down and rested itself against his neck. "Sailor Moon, use the Moon Healing Escalation since he's possessed!"  
  
Moon gaped for a second and blushed as she pulled the Silver Crystal out and held it in her hand. "Oh yeah! I hadn't even thought of that."  
  
Mars hit her in the back of the head. "Baka!"  
  
"MOON HEALING ESCALATION!!"  
  
Saturn jumped back at the last second and let the Silver Crystal energy slam into him. He screamed again and burst into magical fire, his back arched for several seconds before he collapsed and passed out. Then it was over and everyone finally let themselves relax a little, it had been a very hard battle and one that none of them wanted. Saturn was happy she hadn't had to kill her Uncle Ryoga and knelt down beside him. Moon came over and sat down beside her and gave her a hug.  
  
"Thanks for the save there Saturn, I was about to fire on him again and I don't think he would have survived."  
  
"Pluto said to remind you."  
  
"Pluto?" Moon asked in surprise, a hint of her earlier anger in her voice. "Why didn't she tell me herself?"  
  
"You're angry with her, she thought you wouldn't listen to her. I think."  
  
"Oh...where is she now?"  
  
"She was just over by Ranma."  
  
They turned to look, but Pluto was long gone, the rest of the Scouts were there bandaging the rest of Ranma's injuries. "You should go over there and heal her as much as you can Saturn."  
  
"What about Ryoga and Mercury?"  
  
"Mercury is just out cold and should wake up soon, her healing abilities kicked in almost immediately. I'll look after Ryoga, he should be up any minute now and I want to talk to him when he comes around."  
  
"Alright." Saturn said and headed over to check on Ranma again.   
  
Sailor Moon didn't know who to talk to about what she had seen, on one hand she wanted to tell everyone, on the other had she felt that it would cause a lot of problems. Ranma did not like being a girl, Usagi knew that much, but if 'she' was the new Sailor Pluto he had to be a girl to do it. What would happen to Setsuna now? Usagi was mad at her, but not enough to want her to step down from her job.   
  
"What's wrong Usako?" Tuxedo Mask asked.  
  
"Just something I saw, I'm not going worry about it for now. Could you pick up Mercury, we need to carry her to the temple."  
  
"What about Ranma?"  
  
"I'll have Jupiter carry her..."  
  
"Okay, lets get everyone back to the Temple." Moon said.  
  
"What about Ryoga?"  
  
Moon frowned. "We'll call an ambulance for him, but I don't want him with us so just leave him here."  
  
"That works for me." Mask said and went to collect Mercury.  
  
It only took them about ten minutes to get everyone back to the temple and Rei had Ranma and Ami placed in a room to get some rest. Ranma looked like hell warmed over, her body was covered in bruises, a lot worse than the last fight she had been in with Ryoga at the mall. These two did more property damage than any other kind of fight she had seen, even as a Scout. It still amazed her that a regular human like Ranma could fight like she did, she could have even taken them out in their Scout forms at the level she fought at. It was simply amazing no matter how she looked at it and she was training them all how to fight like she did.  
  
"Rei, did you see what I did just as that blast of light went off?" Usagi asked as she entered the room.  
  
"See what?"  
  
"Ranma had the symbol of Pluto on her forehead."  
  
"WHAT?!!" They all screamed.  
  
Usagi nodded. "I saw the symbol of Pluto on her forehead just as the blast went off."  
  
"Does this mean the Ranma is Setsuna's replacement?" Rei asked to herself.  
  
"I don't know, I hope not, I'm mad at Pluto for what she tried to do, but not enough to strip her of her powers."  
  
"Uranus and Neptune are also out to kill her as well, what will we do about them if they decide that they don't want Ranma as Pluto?" Minako asked. "That last fight with them nearly killed Ranma."  
  
"I know."  
  
"I don't think that Ranma is the next Pluto, he or she doesn't have the right kind of personality for it and I know for a fact that you will never get Ranma in a fuko. She'll die first." Makoto said with a giggle.  
  
Minako nodded her head and giggled as well.  
  
"You're probably right about that, but I still saw the symbol on her head so if she isn't a Scout what does that make her?"  
  
No one had a clue.  
  
"If you guys don't mind I'm going to head home and get some sleep, it's getting late." Mamoru said as he stood up.  
  
"I'll walk you out!" Usagi said and sauntered over to her boyfriend with a smirk.  
  
The others either glared at her in jealously, rolled their eyes, or tried to ignore Usagi's luck like usual.   
  
"Well that's the way the board breaks!" Minako said with a grin.  
  
"Minako!!" Artemis snapped.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"One of these days you're going to get one of those sayings right."  
  
"Eh..heheheheheheheheheh..." Minako scratched the back of her head and blushed.  
  
Hotaru just sat in the corner of the room looking confused and tired, Haruka was supposed to come and pick her up an hour ago and she still hadn't shown up. She had used her healing abilities to help Ranma and Ami, but it had left her drained and she needed some sleep. Luckily watching the Inners was funny and Haruka was right that they were laugh riot when they got going and forgot who was around to watch them. To bad she was to tired to appreciate it much.  
  
**********  
  
The wind was blowing steadily over the small patch of land as light flared and Commander Hibera appeared, hovering over the scorched earth with an irritated look on her face. She was happy to be active again, but she was a little pissed that Kakome had kept her in deep freeze for over three hundred years before remembering that she existed. Now she had to try and kill the Sailor Scouts and several of the other super powered being on this planet within a week or she would be either killed or put back in deep freeze again, probably never to see the light of day again.  
  
There were some poor suckers in there that hadn't been awakened in thousands of years, all because they had so little use or had angered the Master. She decided that she would die first before she went back to that and that meant she had to make a good showing here. The Scouts were doomed if that was what she had to do, there were no other options. Luckily she had the power to back it up, or in this case, she would have the power. Planets like this one were made for her kind, all she had to do was tap into them and she would be all powerful.  
  
She looked around and took not of the volcano she was hovering above, it was billowing smoke and dust into the air and rumbling to itself. It felt like she was home again, one of the few things she missed about her old life. Her long blue hair swirled around her as she raised her hand to the sky and flared with red light, within seconds she was humming with power and she lowered her arm and vanished. She reappeared right above a lava toob and fired a beam of energy down into the earth with a scream of ecstasy. At first nothing seemed to happen, then the earth began to rumble and fired a column of lave straight up into the air and sprayed right into Commander Hibera.  
  
Instead of reacting with fear, she just grinned as her aura flared up and dwarfed her in sized. Her insane laugh could be heard for miles around slowly growing in volume and scaring the locals into a frenzy of fear and dread. Then with a final flare of power the volcano erupted in an explosion of power that nearly obliterated the entire volcanic island and killed several hundred people. Hibera just ate it up and added the power and life energy of the dead to her own power.  
  
Then as suddenly as it began it rumbled to a stop and she relaxed enough to let her aura be reabsorbed into her. Her powers were at full power now and those Scouts were going to did if it was the last thing she ever did. Her powers now connected her to the Earth and she could feel the untapped potential of its life and she laughed even louder. Then her eyes gleamed as she locked onto the one person on this planet that was connected like she was. This was too perfect, she could feel the Scout of the Earth and where he was. On one of the Japanese islands without the slightest clue that she had found him. She couldn't pass this, who would have thought that she would have the first kill this soon?  
  
She lifted her arm and vanished from sight with a clap of thunder that echoed over what was left of the island. The clouds in the sky had been affected by the blast, but they had retuned quickly and gathering up the evaporated water from the lava pouring into the sea. Minutes later the rains began to try and calm the destruction that had been created, but half way around the world one man knew in an instant that something was wrong. He sat up in bed with sweat dripping off him and looked out over the city and wondered if he was right or wrong about the coming battle.  
  
Mamoru Chiba was the Prince of Earth and one most closely tied to Earth, he knew with his planet was being hurt or in danger and was always the most affected by it. If a piece of a mountain fell into the ocean he knew about it, if a mine collapsed he knew, and if a volcano went off because of unnatural causes he knew about that as well. Over the years he had learned to control it a little, but all these dark forces were always using that link to the Earth against him if they knew about. Even when they didn't the link still worked and some of that darkness always made it's way to him in one form or another.   
  
He crawled out of bed and made his way to the kitchen, his volcano induced headache was pounding something ferrous. For the first time in a long while he was a bit angry that Usagi and the others hadn't given him a communicator. This was something that they needed to know about, but he knew it was too late already. He could feel the power coming right for him even as he stood there drinking some water and a couple of aspirin. With a flare of power he transformed into Prince Endymion complete with armor and sword and stepped into the living room. His timing was perfect as Commander Hibera appeared before him in a flare of light.  
  
"Well, well, you were waiting for me to appear?"  
  
"You hurt my planet, I could feel it as the volcano went off and killed all those people."  
  
"They shouldn't have been living on that island in the first place, its their own fault if you ask me." Hibera smirked.  
  
"The loss of life is never a small thing."  
  
"You don't' have the power to stop me Mamoru." Hibera snapped and smiled at the shocked look on his face.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I bet you want to know how I know your real name right? Well you see you're the only one other than me that has a connection to this planet and that connection is strong, so strong that reading your identity was relatively easy really."  
  
"It doesn't matter if you know or not, I can't let you kill anymore people and I will do everything in my power to stop you." Endymion said as she started to draw his sword.  
  
Commander Hibera laughed. "Bull shit little boy, you don't have the balls to do everything to stop me. I will kill and destroy everything in my path to achieve my goal while you stand in the background and complain about the loss of life. You are a good guy, a position I gave up a long time ago and there is nothing you can do to stop me Prince of Earth."  
  
"Like hell there is!!" Endymion screamed and rushed forward to behead the monster in front of him.  
  
She blurred and he felt a blow to his chest flew backward and threw the wall into his bedroom. He was coughing a little as he stumbled to his feet, but a blow to his back sent him to his knees and she punted him through the back wall of his apartment and into the neighboring apartment in a shower of stone, mortar, broken pipes, and ravaged wires. Endymion groaned in pain as he felt some of his energy being sucked out of him as he tried to crawl away, but the blue haired demon was already there lifting him off the floor by his neck.  
  
"What kind of weakling are you Prince of Earth? I thought you would at least be a challenge for a little while."  
  
That was all the distraction he needed and brought his knee up into her chin with all his strength. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to do more than make her let go and knock her back into his apartment. He looked around and noticed that he was in an empty apartments and thanked all the gods in heaven that there was no one here to be killed by this mad woman. The scream of fury next door was so loud that it probably woke up everyone in the building even as the rest of the wall exploded into the room.   
  
"I am Commander Hibera and for that you are going to die you pathetic worm!!"  
  
He rolled out of the way of several energy blasts and tossed out a barrage of lethal roses. Then was out of the room before they even hit, he smirked as he snapped his fingers and heard the roses exploded with the force of several grenades and leveled even more of the apartment. Sailor Moon and the girls were always doing what they could to take the enemies down as softly as possible, it was a bit galling that he always had to hold back around them.  
  
The front door of the empty apartment opened easily enough and he made his way outside and into the hallway. He ran for it, his cape trailing behind him elegantly. Behind him the apartment exploded into fire as the walls were blasted out and a completely pissed off blue haired monster stomped her way out and glared at his back. Her eyes were glowing with power, they flared and a wall of fire roared down the hall way after him. A quick turn into the stair well and he slammed the fire proof door shut and hopped over the stair railing to fall several stories and landed in a crouch.  
  
Sticking around wasn't a good idea though and he took off as soon as he caught his breath again. He could feel her chasing him down, so he took the door into the underground parking of his building just as the door behind him was blown off it's hinges and slammed into the wall across from it. Hibera stepped out and right into another dozen roses he had left, they exploded on contact with enough power to shatter the concrete. Skidding to a stop he turned around and waited for some sign of her exiting the fire storm and the instant he saw some movement he brought his hands forward.  
  
"TUXEDO BOMBER BLAST!!!" He screamed and a wave of energy fired out of his hands. A ball of gray and black energy fired out and slammed into Hibera's chest, hitting her like a car and blowing her back before the was ready.  
  
He took off again and ran up the exit ramp, vaulting over a car that was just starting to enter the garage and startled the driver. Endymion ran across the street and transformed into Tuxedo Mask to change his energy signature, but did it just as a he heard a loud crunching sound and the car he had vaulted over came flipping out of the garage. It flew thirty or forty feet in the air and landed in the middle of the street to explode. He watched from the shadows as Hibera stalked out of the garage glowing a deep orange, the pavement at her feet melting with every step she took.  
  
"I WILL CATCH YOU ASSHOLE AND I WILL KILL YOU AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!" Commander Hibera screamed and vanished.   
  
Tuxedo Mask sighed with relief and perked up a little when her heard the sounds of sirens in the distance. He stepped into the shadows and used them to cover himself as he roof hopped to the Temple where most of the Scouts were staying the night. This enemy was a lot more ruthless than some of the others that they had faced, they had to stop this new enemy as soon as possible. Nothing good was going to come from this, nothing at all.   
  
**********  
  
"So what do you think we should do?" Usagi asked as she sat in the living room of Rei's temple.  
  
"I don't know, we have never taken this kind of damage before." Rei said.  
  
"Those things are beating the crap out of us and I don't like it, we've been winning these battles for some time and getting stronger and stronger with every battle." Maloto said in a huff.  
  
"Oh calm down, we won didn't we?" Minako said.  
  
"Girls, Ryoga would have killed all of us if we had gotten in his way." Luna said. "Mercury was taken out because she could have found a way to stop him before the fight started and paid the price."  
  
"Maybe, but at what price will the next victory cost us? Mercury is out for the next few days while she recovers and these things are attacking us every few hours now." Luna said.  
  
"Luna's right, we need to find a way to take these things down faster and harder than what we can now, were getting our tails kicked because they found some way to counter our magical abilities." Rei said.  
  
"What about Ranma, he...she? can help us some more can't she?" Makoto asked and ate some of her cookies, for once Usagi wasn't eating very much and it kind of unnerved her a little.   
  
"I don't know..."  
  
"Ranma has been the most help against these monster since they showed up, they don't have the same immunity to her attacks that they do to ours. She has lots of different attacks and that makes her hard to read and defend against, is there anyway we can do what Rei did and alter our attacks in any way?"  
  
Luna cocked her head and started pacing. "The Scouts powers were designed to be used in a ladder type series, slowly making you stronger and stronger until you were ready for the added power of your higher abilities. I don't know if it is possible to get to them faster than you already are."  
  
"Then how are we supposed to fight back Luna, there has to be something we can do. Sitting here and waiting for them to show up is a very bad idea, they are hunting us down to kill us." Makoto snapped.  
  
"Luna, stop being so stubborn and tell them or I will." Artemis said from under the couch where he was hiding. Stealing Minako's dinner while her back was turned hadn't proven to be a good idea, but it was VERY filling.   
  
"No, it is far to early for them to do that."  
  
"That's bull and you know it! Tell them."  
  
The Scouts blinked and turned to look at Luna, but she didn't notice.  
  
"No, in the Silver Millennium they had at least ten years of training before they were even considered for that. They barely have four years of training now and that hasn't been all that harsh as it is. It could be twenty or more years before they are ready."  
  
"What is he talking about Luna?" Usagi asked.  
  
Luna gasped and turned to look at the girls faces as they crowded around her and started to sweat, she had forgotten they were there. "Um...nothing."  
  
"LUNA!!"  
  
"It's too soon, none of you are ready for that just yet."  
  
"Luna, I do remember where that fat cat lives, Hercules was his name wasn't it?" Usagi said, her eyes taking on a look that Luna had never seen before.  
  
"No! It's to dangerous, you could all be killed and where would we be then?!"  
  
"Let us decide that Luna, we will die if the next attack happens without Ranma around and she is currently in the next room in pretty bad shape." Makoto said.  
  
"There is a trial that you can go through to gain more skill and power as a Scout..." Artemis said.  
  
"Artemis no, they are not ready!" Luna yelled and tackled the white cat and tossed him out the front door of the shrine before he could get anymore out.  
  
While the black cat was busy Minako looked over at the table, Mercury's computer was sitting there innocently trying to blend in. A little hard to do for a blue, pink, and white hand held computer on a brown table, but it was trying. Minako walked over and picked it up. "How much do yo want to bet what we need to know is in here?"  
  
"But that's Mercury's!" Usagi gasped.  
  
"So? It's a computer..." Minako said and flipped it open, this was first time she had ever gotten such a close look at the little thing. The screen took up the entire lid of the device and the key pad was touch sensitive, just like out Star Trek the Next Generation with that Dreamy Commander Ryker. Minako slapped herself to stop from drooling, the others sweat dropped as they crowded around her.  
  
She gasped as words flashed across the screen *Princess of Venus recognized, I can answer questions by having them typed in below.*  
  
"NEAT!!" Minako squealed and quickly typed out a question. *What is this Trial that the Scouts have to go through to get more powerful?*  
  
*Scanning...Scanning...Scanning...*  
  
"What's it doing?" Usagi said, she couldn't see much of the screen with everone else crowding in around Minako.  
  
"It's looking for the information Usagi."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
*Information found - The Trial of Destiny is the final stage one of the Sailor Scouts need to pass to become true Sailor Scouts and masters of their Planetary Element.*  
  
*How do we take this Trial?*  
  
*The Trial is to be taken after all of your training is complete and initiated by the Silver Crystal in conjunction with the Golden Crystal. The nature of the Trials are classified by order of Queen Serenity the First. Further information may only be accessed by order of Pluto or Queen Serenity.*  
  
*How dangerous is it?*  
  
*The second group of Scouts to take the trial did so too soon and were never heard from again. Theories suggested that they failed the Trial or were killed, their current location has never been entered into this file.*  
  
"Hey guys it says we could die or never be heard from again if we take it too early." Minako gasped.  
  
"I told you girls it was to early!" Luna snapped from their feet.  
  
Usagi's head snapped up as Tuxedo Mask pulled the door open and stumbled into the shrine. She gasped and ran to him as he fell to the floor, he was in pretty bad shape and bleeding from dozens of small wounds. "OHMYGODWHATHAPPENEDTOYOU?" She screeched. The others ran over to help and dragged him the rest of the way into the shrine and helped him to lay down on the couch. Rei went to grab some towels and bandages while the others helped make Mamoru more comfortable.  
  
"A new enemy attacked me just after I went to bed, she tried to kill me and nearly leveled my apartment building."  
  
Usagi hugged him and burst into tears. "WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"  
  
The rest of the Scouts winced.   
  
"She called herself Commander Hibera and was more powerful than anything I've ever encountered before. It felt like I was taking on Wise Man all by myself."  
  
**********  
  
Ranma opened her eyes slowly and groaned in pain, she felt like she had been in a friendly sparing match with Saffron and there was this loud wailing sound in the background that was making it worse. It kind of reminded her of the times Soun would break down in hysterics over something stupid. Her whole body hurt in place she didn't want to think about, especially since she was female currently. Memories of the fight came back to her, what Ryoga had done to her and the dream like state she had experienced close to the end of the fight. That dream had been revealing to say the least, who would have thought Ryoga would have that kind of bad luck? Finding monsters like that was supposed to be hard, getting to them even harder, and Ryoga had stumbled upon it and released it without even knowing it was there.   
  
For a few seconds she felt sorry for the moron, but decided that he deserved it in a way, Ryoga was so obsessed with defeating her at times that he would do almost anything to destroy him. Sure some of their matches were just friendly sparing matches, but every now and then they took on a whole new meaning and that was when things became dangerous. Ryoga was his closest rival in the art and if he ever learned to control those rages of his their fights would take on a whole new meaning. The one area that she knew she couldn't compete against Ryoga in was brute strength. Ranma knew she was strong, but to match the Lost Boy in that area would be nearly impossible.   
  
Ranma sat up and noticed the strange surroundings and that she was covered in bandages. Whoever had trussed her up had done a decent job of it, even though most of her injuries were healed up by now. It must have been the Scouts, they were the only ones that could have done it, if anyone else had decided to help she would have ended up at Dr. Tofu's or on a boat to China. This unfamiliar room meant the Scouts, so she rolled to her feet and searched around for a few minutes until she found her shirt and pants. They had been laid out at the end of her futon for when she woke up, most of her clothing was in pretty bad shape, she even noticed several spots were the blood from her injuries had seeped through. Ranma shuddered, she did not want to wear the soiled clothing and kind of hoped she could borrow something from someone. Running around in boxers wasn't going to work either, but her clothes could for later.  
  
Ranma looked around and saw that Ami was laid out on a futon in the corner on the far side of the room. She looked to be in pretty good condition for being hit by Ryoga, the bruise on her face was pretty obvious and nasty looking though. Ranma hobbled over to her and knelt down to look her over, she immediately tapped several shiatsu points and altered the flow of the girl's Ki so that she would heal up a little faster than she normally would. Ranma had been around Dr. Tofu enough to have learned some of his skills.  
  
Ami groaned and opened her eyes to see a topless female Ranma looking down at her and blinked in confusion. "What's going on?" She mumbled.  
  
"We survived the fight."  
  
"Fight?" Ami asked in confusion.  
  
"With Ryoga?"  
  
"Oh yeah...Ryoga hit...me, didn't he?" Ami said slowly and reached up to touch her face.  
  
Ranma nodded. "Yep, he left you with a nasty bruise too."  
  
"What happened after that?"  
  
"Me and him fought one of our nastier battles."  
  
"At least you won."  
  
Ranma frowned and looked away. "Um..."  
  
"You lost?"  
  
"No, but I'm not sure I won either." Ranma said and stood up, she didn't want to talk about her near defeat anymore, Ryoga had almost had her. "Though I won't admit that again if anyone else asks."   
  
Ami giggled and nodded. "Why are you running around topless?"  
  
Ranma blushed. "My shirt is covered in blood, I don't want to put it on like that."  
  
Ami shuddered and nodded. "This looks like Rei's temple, one of the spare rooms, she should have something that you can wear. If not her then Makoto will, she is more your size anyway."  
  
Size? "Huh?"  
  
Ami just giggled some more.  
  
"Well lets go and get something to eat, I'm starving." Ranma said.  
  
Ami just stood up slowly, but Ranma was there to help her lay back down. "You are worse off than I thought if you can't stand up, I'll go, you get some more rest." Ranma said and was out the door before she could say much of anything.  
  
Ranma stalked down the hall, pasted the Scouts and into the kitchen before anyone could say much of anything. Rei and Makoto saw her and started coughing and blushing a solid red while Minako gaped at her. Usagi didn't noticed, bit Mamoru did and fainted in Usagi's arms as Ranma 'jiggled' past in a pair of boxers and nothing else. Hotaru was to busy laughing to say much of anything, it was just further proof of Ranma's manly out look on things that being topless as a girl didn't bother her all that much.  
  
Of course a few seconds later when he stepped back out into the living room as a man again, all the girls started blushing as other ideas occurred to them and his boxers didn't hide much. "Hey now, get your minds out of the gutter!" Ranma snapped, he would know those looks anywhere.  
  
They all blushed, except Usagi who still hadn't noticed much beyond Mamoru's fainting spell and the blood dripping out of his nose. Her wailing was ignored by all in favor of a more interesting pastime, an under clothed and moving Ranma. "Could one of you run over to my apartment and grab me some clothes? My other set is covered in blood and I don't want to wear it like that."  
  
Hotaru jumped up and ran out of the room. "I'llgoandgetit!!" She yelled back.  
  
"Um..." Ranma said and decided it was good enough. "I'll wait in the other room then."  
  
"You can't go in there like that!" Rei yelled suddenly.  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"Your a...guy..." Rei started and stopped as she blushed again.  
  
"So what? I'm always a guy, and always will be as far as I'm conserned."  
  
"But Ami is in there..."  
  
"Yep, and she needs her sleep since she is to weak to get up at the moment." Ranma said. "...and I'm hungry enough to eat a table leg or something, I just don't feel like eating in my underwear."  
  
All the girls blushed again.  
  
Ranma looked confused and thought there might have been something wrong with his boxers and looked down, they looked normal to him so he couldn't see the problem with them. "I'll just wait until Hotaru gets back with those clothes then I can go out and get something to eat."  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
  
End notes - I have noticed that this story and The Replacement are getting harder and harder to get regular chapters, so I'm moving them to a secondary slot on the priorities list. Princess of the Moon and Golden Opportunity are going to be my regular ones for a while. I will still be working on these, but I'm running low on ideas and need to come up with the right direction to take both fics.   
  
Maybe you could suggest some ideas? 


	6. Chapter 5

Note: Well it's been next to forever since I've updated this story hasn't it. Nearly three years. You might want to take a look at the earlier chapters just to remember what has happened earlier. I'll save anymore comments for the end of the chapter, for now, enjoy yourself!

oooooooooo  
Uncles  
Chapter 05  
by Cory D. Rose  
(c) 2002  
oooooooooo

Ranma was sitting on his bed, he was still in his underwear since Hotaru hadn't returned from his apartment yet. On the other side of the room Ami was ignoring him as best she could by working on her computer, he had retrieved it from the subspace earlier and hadn't looked up since. Ranma didn't think much of it, though he wasn't used to being ignored by the girls around him. He'd seen her take a glance at him every now and then and figured it wasn't any of his business. He had been thinking about his fight with Ryoga and come to some realizations that he didn't like. Ryoga had pounded the crap out of him in ways that hadn't ever achieved, it would be several days before he got back to normal and could help out again. The girls would be on their own with that new enemy running around out there and he wasn't sure if they could handle things on their own.

"Here Ranma check this out." Ami said suddenly.

He looked up and saw that she was holding the little computer out to him. "What's that?"

"I completed that program I've been working on and found the reason you kept your curse and Ryoga didn't."

"Really!" Ranma said and moved to sit down beside her.

"Yep." Ami said and blushed a little as she desperately tried not to watch him to closely, it wasn't often that she had a half naked guy walking around in the same room she occupied, more along the lines of...never, but it didn't seem to bother him that much so she would deal with it. She turned bright red and nearly passed out as her shyness gene overloaded a few seconds later.

"So what happened?" Ranma said as he leaned in close to get a better look at the tiny screen.

Ami nearly passed out a second time and had to take a couple of calming breaths to make her heart slow down. "Um...it's because you were in girl form at the time and Ryoga wasn't. When the curse isn't activated it's held in a dormant state inside your body, sending out tiny bursts of magic so that it can be activated again and again, but as soon as it's activated it is spread through out your whole body and impossible to isolate."

"That means what?"

"You weren't cured because your curse was active and Ryoga's wasn't, Usagi's magic did..."

Ranma gasped. "Does that mean that if Usagi was to blast me as I am now I would be cured?" He jumped up to run into the front room, but Ami reached out and grabbed his foot before he got to far, it didn't help that he was now face first on the floor and in pain from the fall. "Hey, what's the big deal!"

"It won't work anymore." Ami said sadly, trying to ignore the fact that it was easy to look right up the leg of Ranma's boxers from the position he was in. She only wished she could see something, but that was simply impossible so she had to settle for imagining it.

"Won't work anymore?" Ranma said as his shocked mind tried to wrap itself around the idea.

"I'm a-afraid not, the magic did s-something else to you." Ami said sadly, fighting her surging hormones with everything she had and suddenly understanding why Makoto and Minako were so boy crazy.

"Oh great, now what else can go wrong?" Ranma grumbled and pulled himself into a sitting position.

"I'm not to sure yet, the readings were a little vague and hard to understand. It'll take some time to get everything together and sorted out enough to understand what happened completely."

Ranma slumped to the floor. "Mr. P gets rid of his curse and I still have to live with mine, how pathetic can that be?"

"Your curse isn't that bad Ranma, being a girl is a lot of fun."

"You don't understand the curse Ami."

"Then explain it to me, why is it so bad to turn into a girl?"

Ranma sighed, no one had ever asked him that, at least not before jumping to some weird conclusion and trying to kill him because of it. "Well you see it's like this, I was raised to be a man among men, to be anything less means my death..."

Ami paled.

Glomp! Glomp! Dog pile!

"Nooo!" Someone yelled.

Ranma suddenly found himself at the bottom of a pile of well endowed female bodies as they all tried to hug him at once. He struggled to get away, he was in his boxers after all and someone had just touched him where they shouldn't have, but they grabbed his arms and held him in place through cunning and devious ways. Minako crawled out of the pile and nodded to the other girls as they all backed off, she was holding a long rope and a couple of other things that trailed down to Ranma. They had trussed him up as best they could, tying his legs together, his hands behind his back, and gagged him .

Hotaru was still plastered to his waist crying her eyes out. "We won't let you kill yourself!"

"Mmmphhhmm." Ranma said through the gag.

"Where'd all of you come from?" Ami asked.

"We have to stop him from committing suicide!" Minako yelled.

"Huh?"

"We'll protect you!" Makoto said and made sure the knots were still firm.

"Mmmm mmmph!" Ranma glared.

"Guys, I don't think that's what Ranma was talking about." Ami said as the tried to undo the gag around Ranma's head.

He nodded frantically, but no one seemed to notice.

Makoto stopped Ami from undoing the gag and shook her head. "We have to talk him out of it before he gets past this stage into actually trying to do it." She said in a sage like voice.

"But..."

"Let us take care of this Ami." Minako said.

Hotaru just continued to cry.

Ranma sighed and rolled his eyes, it seemed some of the insanity from Nerima had followed him after all, man would it ever stop?

Attracted by all the commotion, Usagi and Rei edged into the room. "What's going on here?" Rei asked, and after a quick explanation that had both Usagi and Rei in tears, Ranma found himself being pulled into the front room of the shrine. He struggled to get out of the bonds but found that they just wouldn't budge, so he had to sit there and wait for the girls to back off a little before he could do anything.

"I won't let you kill yourself Ranma!" Hotaru wailed some more.

"Mmm Mphmmm." Ranma mumbled and tried to pat her on the head with his chin, but she just started crying even more.

"We have to set up a twenty four hour guard on him until these thoughts go away." Minako said as all the girls sat down around the table to discuss him. "I'll go first. I still have my nurse uniform. This will be so much fun!"

"Um..." Ami tried again, now slightly nervous.

"Agreed, where will we keep him while we do that? My place?" Makoto asked.

"You really need..."

"Ryoga must have been to much for him if he's even thinking of ending it all." Usagi said and broken into tears.

Rei pounded on the table. "I have plenty of room here."

"You should..." Ami pointed out.

"He's so cute, I don't want him to die!" Minako wailed.

"WHAAAAAAAA!" Hotaru joined Minako.

"Listen to me!" Ami yelled.

They all turned to look at her and she blushed a little. "Sorry. How is Ranma going to explain himself if he's gagged?"

"That's a good question Ami." Usagi said. "Take out his gag and let him explain why he wants to die.

They all turned to where Ranma was laying and blinked, the spot was empty. "He's gone!" Yelled five of the six girls as they started running around.

Bending his body and crawling like a worm, Ranma was making his way down the hallway that led to the kitchen, he had to get free of these insane girls. There were bound to be knives in there that would allow him to get out of these ropes before the girls caught him. He was almost there when he heard the girls start yelling and knew that they had noticed him missing, he sped up as he wormed his way along the wooden floor. He figured he had at least a minute before they got there so he moved as fast as he could as he made it into the kitchen and seconds later had the ropes off.

The girls all piled into the kitchen, except Ami who looked a little embarrassed, and dove for him as they yelled for him to stop. Ranma groaned, cursing all insane girls, and dove out the window while he still had the chance. He landed in a roll and startled a couple of school girls that had just come to visit the shrine, smiled at them, and ran into the woods around the shrine. Rei, Usagi, Minako, Hotaru, and Makoto all dove out of the shrine and quickly followed after Ranma. The school girls just blinked for a second then burst into giggles as they recalled Ranma in his boxers and how they moved as he ran.

"Can I help you?" Rei gasped out when she noticed that she had guests.

"Who was that cutie?" Miyaka asked.

"Just a friend." Rei said.

"He looked really good with no clothes on like that." Yuri suggested.

Rei blushed. "I wouldn't know."

"Right!" Both girls said and giggled.

"What can I get for you?" Rei growled out as she ground her teeth together.

"Can we get some charms for school?" Miyaka asked innocently.

In the back ground Ranma is running in circles around the shrine as all the other girls chase after him. Ranma sighed, he was getting very tired of running in circles and wondering what in the world had happened to cause this, all he had been doing was explaining a bit of his life to Ami and then suddenly he was bound and gagged and being accused of being suicidal.

Desperate times sometimes require desperate actions according to his old man, so he jumped to a tree and flipped into one of the open windows along the wall of the shrine to get away from the girls. The instant he landed he glanced around to make sure no one was around and crouched down in a weird stance and concentrated.

Usagi ran up and skidded to a halt and glanced at Ranma at the exact time that he seemed to waver and vanish from existence. She gasped with the other girls and wondered what had happened. "Oh well, he got away."

Minako, Hotaru, and Makoto seemed to rise above her like giants as their battle auras flared. "WHAT DO YOU MEAM BY THAT, HE'S GOING TO KILL HIMSELF!" They yelled in unison.

"Eeep!" Said Usagi as she cowered down.

"Where in the world did you girls get the idea that I was going to kill myself?" Ranma's voice asked out of thin air.

"Ranma!" Hotaru gasped and started looking around.

"Where are you?" Usagi asked.

"I'm using a martial arts technique to hide my presence."

"I won't let you kill yourself." Minako said and started to wave her arms around to find Ranma.

"You girls are good at jumping to conclusions." Ranma muttered.

"We all heard you." Makoto yelled and copied Minako.

"Ami was asking about my history and I was explaining something to her."

"We all heard you Ranma, if you can't be a man among men you have to die." Hotaru said.

"If you would have let me explain I would have said, I was raised to be a man among men. If I failed I would have been forced to commit seppuku on my honor for breaking a promise to my mother."

Usagi started giggling. "Oh yeah, you explained all that to me and Rei when we visited you in the hospital."

Minako and Makoto blushed as they looked at Usagi.

"Hotaru, if your back that means you were able to get me some clothes." Said Ranma's disembodied voice.

"I dropped them in the hall outside the room where you and Ami were resting." Hotaru said with a blush.

"Thank you." They all heard his foot steps as he walked away.

With Ranma gone the three girls all turned on Usagi for not telling any of this stuff.

"Um...well you see it's like this..." Usagi started nervously.

oooooooooo

He found his clothes right where Hotaru had said and quickly dressed before dropping the Umisen-Ken. He hadn't used it in some time and his strained body was proof of that, he promised to seal the moves, but he still used a few when he needed them though.

Most of the others he did not intend to use again until he had a chance to perfect them into non-lethal versions of what his father had created. Once he was dressed, he made his way back to the front room and saw that all the girls had gathered around the table. Rei had finish selling some charms as well.

"Now we're not going to have anymore of that nonsense are we?"

"Sorry." They chorused.

"Whatever, next time just give me a chance to explain before you jump to some weird conclusions."

The girls nodded.

"Fine then, what's this I hear of a new enemy?"

"How did you know about that?" Rei asked.

"I heard all of you talking about it earlier."

Mamoru looked at Ranma. "Her name is Commander Hibera, she seems to have some link to the Earth, just like I do."

"She has the same powers as you do?"

"My powers have always been less than the girls, though I have enough to get by, but mostly I can create a rose that hits with a lot of force and some limited teleportation whenever Usagi is in trouble. Hibera seems to have access to all of the powers this planet has to offer, and it makes her incredibly powerful."

"Full power? Like the Scouts here?" Ranma asked.

"We don't have full access to our powers yet Ranma." Ami pointed out.

"You don't?"

"No, we started out with about 20 of our full power when we went up against Queen Beryl's generals and first Youma, we have slowly built it up over time. The last time I checked we were running at about 53 or so."

Ranma blinked. "That's it?"

"That's enough to do some extremely dangerous things Ranma, we reached our Super forms at about 40 and that gave each of us enough power to level a good portion of this island if we let loose with an unfocused attack and used every bit of our power at once."

"No way!"

"She's right, Ami here is the Scout of water and if she set her mind to it could probably create a tidal wave that could easily level or destroy most of Japan." Mamoru said.

"If you've got that much power why don't you use it against your enemies?" Ranma asked.

"Because to use everything at once would kill us and even if we survived the attack, we would be unable to do anything else until we recovered the used up energy and that would take days, we always have to be careful and conserve as much energy as we can during an attack. It's pretty rare when we get a chance to let loose, usually it's during a life or death situation that requires it." Ami said.

"So you're saying that this Hibera has nearly twice as much power as you do currently?"

"That's about right." Ami said. "We've had this happen before with some of our other enemies, but we managed to take them down as well. At the moment I'm not sure how we can do it. Hibera nearly leveled Mamoru's apartment building during their fight."

Ranma folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, he was strong, but this went way beyond what he thought the girls were capable of using. In a straight hand to hand fight he could take all of them at once and not even break a sweat, but those transformations of theirs made them incredibly powerful and with their magic attacks he wouldn't' have stood a chance.

That demon that had possessed Ryoga had given the jerk a similar level of power and he had barely survived that fight, the Scouts had taken the Lost Boy down in the end with their magic. He wanted to help, but if this was the kind of power they were going up against he didn't know if he could much more than be in the way.

"Ranma? Are you alright?" Hotaru asked.

"I'm fine, just beginning to understand what kind of power these monsters are capable of."

"Don't worry about it Ranma, we'll find a way to defeat her. We always do eventually, it's the way these things work." Usagi said.

"I'm a martial artist, It's my duty to help out those people who are to weak or unable to help themselves. I have to help you, with Hotaru here it makes it my duty as well to make sure she isn't hurt in these battles."

"Our powers protect us Ranma."

"I know, and what happens when you are caught without them?"

"Huh?"

"Once transformed you have plenty of power to call on, but the instant you return to normal you don't have that advantage. Especially Hotaru here with her weak constitution. She's family, so I have to keep her safe, but I need to get a lot stronger than I currently am to fight against this kind of threat."

"You've been a lot of help so far Ranma." Rei pointed out.

"Maybe, but this new enemy is twice as strong as you are, how am I supposed to fight against something like that?"

"As best you can Ranma." Usagi said.

"No, that isn't enough, there has to be some way to even the field without placing all of in danger."

The girls all look at each other.

Ranma stood up. "I need some time think about this, I'll be back later." He said as he walked out of the shrine.

It was about twenty minutes later when Ranma found himself walking though the park. He had been racking his brain for a plan or some way to fight these monsters, but he kept coming up blank. For all his strength he was completely outclassed in a battle like this and that made him next to useless, he would not accept that under any circumstances. There had to be away for him to fight back.

Unfortunately he kept coming up with one idea that just sucked, going to the Old Ghoul and asking for special training. It had merit, but there were too many flaws to think about. The old woman would make him pay a high price for that kind of request, far more than he was willing to pay.

About the only other person he could think of was the old freak, but he was almost as bad as going to Cologne. Who knew what he would demand for his help. Happosai was totally unpredictable at times and as much as he hated to admit the old fart was the head of his school. To bad respecting the pervert was completely impossible as well.

That just wouldn't do, there had to be something he could do to get stronger without having to resort to going to the either Cologne or Happosai. Ranma let off a sigh and walked over to a tree and sat down, trying to think out his problem was giving him a headache. Normally things like this were pretty simple, but this was proving to be a lot harder than he'd thought it would be.

Of course his luck would have to run out an instant later when a lone sprinkler nozel rose up between his legs and shot him right in the head, instantly changing him to a her as several other sprinklers came up and started watering the grass. Ranma was too tired to care and continued to sit there, she knew they would eventually turn off and it wasn't like moving would be of much help now.

She leaned back against the tree and looked up into the branches as his mind went over everything he had ever learned about Ki control, lessons he had been practicing for some time now.

Ever so slowly she went over all the fights she'd had that involved the use of her Ki, the recent one with Ryoga first, going over it several times and noting down where she had made mistakes that needed to be fixed.

There was a good possibility she would have to subject herself to the Breaking Point training to get stronger. That would be a great advantage. Being able to take a hit with these monsters seemed to be an exceedingly good idea. From all the fights she'd had with Ryoga she kind of already knew it. Out of respect she had decided not to use it unless she was placed in a situation where it was the absolute last resort.

Ryoga's latest actions had been almost to much to bear, but she was still willing to forgive him since being possessed wasn't exactly his fault. Though she planned to whack him upside the head the next time she saw him to make sure he went to Hotaru and apologized in person.

Whenever he screwed up like this the Lost Moron tended to vanish for months at a time before anyone saw him again and that was usually completely by accident. Ranma was still mad at him for getting cured of his curse when she hadn't been, but there wasn't much she could do about it now.

She sighed as another blast of water washed over her from several different directions. It seemed that a nearby sprinkler was malfunctioning and that she seemed to be the cause of it. Her foot was in the way and causing the water to spray out in a long stream that was spraying all over the place.

Moving it out of the way corrected the problem and the pressure went back to normal, the sprinkler lazily moving back and forth again. Ranma blinked, that reminded her of something that Hinako had talked about in class a few weeks back.

She hadn't been able to sleep since that vampire drained her every time she even thought about dozing off to her droning voice. They had been talking about compression and pressure, air pressure, water pressure and things like that. She'd almost forgotten about it because of just how bored she was by the time class ended.

Now she was kind of glad she had stayed awake after all, an idea was forming in her mind. Something she knew just might work, but it was dangerous, very dangerous. She had to find out if it was even possible to apply to a basic Ki blast.

Would it be possible to even form a ball of Ki and apply enough force to keep it under pressure? Or to compressed in her hands to make it grew stronger before releasing it at a target. Nothing she had ever read about Ki said it couldn't be done, though the opposite was just as true, she just wasn't sure about the consequences.

Now normally she wouldn't have even thought such a thing was possible, but ever since Saffron she had been able to use her Ki at much higher levels than ever before and with a little practice she knew she could now do things that even Happosai had no clue about.

If she was going to pull it off she needed a target of some kind. Normally she would have used a lake to practice in and later collected the dead fish for dinner, but there wasn't a lake in this park and for once she wanted to have a bit of privacy.

The only thing this park had were running paths and other things that were next to useless for a test like this. That meant she had to find something else that might work. Standing up she ignored the sprinklers as she slowly walked out of the park while considering her problem.

She absently wrapped her aura around herself and just it to quickly dry her clothes. The more she thought about the problem and went over it in her head the more she was convinced that it was possible. There would be several drawbacks to the move though.

The biggest, as far as she could see was the build up time. That of course was only if she didn't blow her hands off trying to collect the energy in the first place. She was also fairly positive that simply emotional Ki wouldn't do for this particular move.

It would require far to much energy to pull off. That meant to even practice she would need to find a different way to generate Ki at a higher level. Again Happosai or Cologne might know of a way to help her out of this mess, but they were just to unreliable.

The Scouts had explained to her that they were directly linked to the life energy of their planets. They hadn't gone into any detail though. Life energy, now that she thought about it seemed to be what every enemy wanted in one form or another.

Her Ki abilities were generated by pooling her own life energies within her own body and controling how it was used. Those monsters absorbed it somehow and used it to fuel their own powers. If she wanted to fight these things he might have to do something similar, but not by stealing it from all the people around her. That would have to be her first step since it seemed to be at least possible with her Ki abilities.

Some kind of reverse Ki blast of some kind, though she was pretty sure that no one had ever thought of using Ki in this way before. She clutched her head and groaned. Thinking gave her a headache. All she wanted to do was go out and blow something up. Not to think about it.

A third name popped in her head and she realized that it was the perfect solution to her problem. Dr. Tofu knew more about Ki than anyone else she knew outside the two old freaks. The only problem was that he had vanished over a year ago and no one had seen him since.

Even his old man had made a comment or two about the guy after his clinic had been shut down. If he couldn't help there was a good chance that he would know someone that could help her. For once the answer to this one was pretty easy and it wouldn't cost her any money. Ami could use that little computer of hers to help find him.

"Ranma."

She turned and saw that Sailor Pluto was standing nearby. "Pluto?"

"What seems to be the problem?"

"I need to find a way to fight these monsters and the only way I can think of doing that is to get stronger and develop a new kind of move."

"You're only human Ranma, there are limits to what you can do. Let the girls handle it, they have the magic and the power to stop this invasion."

"I'm doing this to protect them as well as those I care for Pluto, I heard all of you talking earlier. These things are adapting to your magic and learning how to counter it a little more every time they attack you. They are even adapting to me and I need to find a way to keep that from happening or find a one shot attack that will kill these things in an instant."

"Maybe, but how much longer will you be able to hold your own Ranma? They learned how to defend against Ryoga after two of his blasts and you've fired more than that. There isn't a thing your blast will be able to do to them now. Let us handle this, it's our job."

Ranma frowned and shook his head. "No, I can't do that."

"I can't talk you out of this?"

"No way, I made a promise to help and I'll keep it. Besides Hotaru is involved and she is family, there is no way I will allow her to fight this alone."

Pluto sighed. "Ranma I have been working with the Time Gate for a few hours now and if I really concentrate I can make it work for a few minutes without my staff and what it's been showing me isn't pretty. These things mean business, they will kill anything that gets in their way and all the different time lines I see where you follow this course of action end in your death."

"My...death? Why?" Ranma gasped.

"Your stubborn pride keeps forcing you to do things that place you in danger, situation after situation, unless you find a different way to help us you will be dead within the month. That's the longest you lasted, the rest were quite short, less than a week from now normally."

"Why are you telling me this? It doesn't seem like something you would do."

Nodding, Pluto sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "This force is different than the others we've faced, they adapt better and know how to work together as well as any team. They are dangerous and if we fail to stop them the earth is doomed. Your help, even by dieing, will help the scouts out considerably, but it will hurt them even more when you die."

"I'm not that easy to kill and I have skills that these monsters have yet to encounter, I haven't even used my absolute full power against them yet. I've made promises not to use certain moves, but I will to protect Hotaru and with what I learned on the slopes of Phoenix Mountain I should be able to hold my own for a while yet." Ranma said stubbornly.

"That maybe, but even with those attacks, if they are the one's the Gate showed me, you still fail in the end. You need to come up with a different strategy, one that will allow you to survive this."

"You seem to be all for me living, why? When just a few days ago you and those other two maniacs were out for my blood." Ranma growled. He didn't want to tell this woman about the idea he just had. If it worked he would have a serious advantage in the next fight.

"I told you when we talked last time that you were a better influence alive than dead. You still mess with the time gate in some way, but not enough to endanger anything very much." Pluto said as she danced around the subject.

There was no way she could allow Ranma to know about Crystal Tokyo just yet. The gate had shown her that much. In a few years, if he lived beyond this battle, then it would be fine. If he learned of it now he wouldn't understand what it truly was and jump to some odd conclusion and fight the whole team tooth and nail to prevent it.

"Then if that's the case, where would you suggest that I start if I want to live through this?" Ranma asked with a glare.

"You have two supreme martial arts masters at your disposal, a little sacrifice is a small price to pay if you want to live through this. They have skills that haven't been seen in centuries, things they have sealed away for the protection of all. Learn from them." Pluto said.

"You have got to be kidding, the old pervert would have me stealing bras and panties right off peoples clothes lines, while the old ghoul would have me drugged and taken back to China the second the opportunity presented itself." Ranma growled.

"Ranma, I've looked into their backgrounds as best I could and developed a massive migraine because of it, but I learned enough to know that they would both be willing to work with you if you work with them. Happosai did tech your father and his friend and look at how good they are. There are only a few people in the city that could touch them Ranma. They are dangerous and powerful enough to have earned their reputations. Look at Shampoo and how good she is too, Cologne taught her everything she knows and she can hold her own against you when she sets her mind to it."

"I know that!" Ranma shouted. "I've learned some of my best moves from Cologne and I give her respect for that. But she has also been instrumental in spreading the chaos in my life and that is harder to forgive, she is next in line after Nabiki for causing me problems.

To her I am a second class human, no better than prized slave the instant I'm brought through the gates of her village. To Happosai I'm the ultimate student, one who can learn all his perverted tricks and someone to molest the instant I drop my guard. I can't put up with that kind of crap anymore! I'm sick and tired of it, that's why I'm here you know." Ranma snapped

Pluto nodded. "See, this is what I meant. Your stubbornness will be your downfall. A small sacrifice to one or both of those two and you just might live, but if you go this alone you will die."

"There has to be something else I can do?" Ranma said. He was now convinced that he had to take his third option.

"Maybe, but without my staff I wasn't able to see all the possibilities, just the ones that were most likely to happen." Pluto said as she decided it was time to leave. "Make a decision Ranma, you have very few options left if you want to make it through this."

Ranma growled as she closed her eyes and with a bit of strain seemed to step backwards into the suddenly visible Time Gate and vanish before he could complain anymore. Every time he met one of those three he wanted to beat a little sense into them just to prove that they weren't as high and mighty as they thought. He hadn't meant to utterly destroy her staff, but the more he talked to that woman the easier it became to justify his actions.

They weren't friendly to him, they insulted him every time they saw him. For now he was going to ignore this current threat as well. He had a third option that Pluto hadn't said anything about. What she didn't know was an even better advantage in his book.

Jumping up on the fence, he hopped to a nearby roof and headed back across Juuban. About twenty minutes later, he bounced over a house and landed in the back yard of the Hikawa Shrine. If anyone could help him out he knew it would be Ami and that little computer of hers.

The girls were still there sitting around the table eating some snacks that Makoto had just finished making when he walked in and sat down. "I just had a very strange talk with Pluto."

"What did she have to say?" Usagi asked.

"She told me that if I continued to fight along with you at my present level of ability that I'd be dead inside a month." Ranma said mildly as he took one of Makoto's brownies.

The gasped and Hotaru looked like she was going to faint.

"Now don't go jumping to conclusions again!" He snapped as the girls all started to get teary eyed.

"Does this mean you are going to let us do the fighting from now on?" Rei asked. "I would be better if you left this stuff up to us."

Ranma shook his head. "Not a chance. I need to find someone that I haven't seen in over a year. He just might be able to help me out where a couple of others would not." Ranma explained as he looked at Ami. "I don't understand computers that much, but I know you are good enough to use one to help me out."

"Who did you want to find?" Ami asked.

"A Doctor named Tofu. He used to have a practice in Nerima, but he vanished about a year ago and I haven't seen him since. He has skills and knowledge that just might be able to help me achieve the next step in my training."

Nodding, Ami pulled out her computer and started typing. "What's his full name?"

"Dr. Tofu Ono."

"What do you need from this guy Ranma?" Hotaru asked as she gave him a worried look.

"He knows things about Ki that very few people know. I need his knowledge to see if this idea of mine has any possibility to of working."

"What did you have in mind?"

"A compressed Ki blast."

"How is that different from what you normally do?" Rei asked.

"Well it will use a different kind of Ki and be about ten to twenty times more powerful. I'm hoping the Doc. will know of a technique I can learn to pull it off or someone that might point me in the right direction."

"It's a solution, but I'm not sure it's the answer Ranma." Rei said.

Ranma gave her a look. "What do you mean? I seems like the ideal solution. A stronger attack to take these things down."

Rei shrugged. "Sometimes more power isn't what's required and they adapt so fast that it won't be effective for very long."

"It's all I've been able to come up with."

"I know, and it's a good temporary solution, but I think we need something they can't adapt to. Do you really think this Tofu guy can give you something that really will help in anyway?"

"We'll have to wait and see, because he's the only option I trust at the moment." Ranma admitted as Ami stopped typing.

"Found him." She said as she wrote an address down on a piece of paper and handed it to Ranma. "He's not to far from here."

Ranma took the paper. "A…retreat?"

"A lot of people go to places like that when life gets to be to much for them. They go to relax, make decisions, and many other things."

"Makoto goes to one every year for her martial arts training." Rei explained.

Ranma memorized the address and nodded. "It shouldn't take me to long to find him. Thanks!" He yelled as he leaped out the window and roof hopped away from the temple.

The girls just watch him for several seconds. "Wasn't he injured a little while ago?"

oooooooooo

The disk of energy flared with ethereal energy and flashed to life. Slowly a picture of Hibera formed. The woman was sitting in the middle of a rather run down room, dirt, litter, and grime covered the walls and ceilings. Kakome shuddered a little as she spotted some bugs crawling around on the floor.

"Commander."

Hibera looked up for a second. "Mistress, how may I serve you?"

"Did you accomplish your mission?"

"No, I attacked the only other person who was connected to my element a couple days ago, but he managed to run away even when I flooded his home with lava. It was quite a surprise."

Kakome frowned. "Why haven't you finished him off yet?"

"I've been studying him. He went straight to those girls I was warned about. I wasn't aware he was part of the group that I had to eliminate. Since then I've been evaluating my strategy."

"Very well, I'll give you another week Commander. In the mean time I'm going to be sending out a Trog to several locations around the planet. The Item just might be here with this many enhanced humans on one planet. It always did have a way of protecting itself."

"Thank you Kakome. May I have the use of a half dozen Trogs as well?"

"After you earn them Commander. I do not tolerate failure. Now get to work."

"Yess Mistress."

oooooooooo

The large wooden gate rose above him by nearly fifteen feet and stood open to anyone that wanted to enter. Ranma had never entered one of these places before, but knew his old man robbed a few during the early days of the training trip. He just hoped no one here would know the Saotome name and try to blame him for his father's actions.

Just past the gate was a series of sculpted steps that reminded him of the steps that led up to Rei's temple. This wasn't a temple though, it was a place where men could get away from their lives. Shrugging, he made his way to the top with a couple of impressive jumps.

Quiet serenity greeted him as he landed at the top. Trees and nature spread out from there in all directions. Off to the side he spotted a trail leading deeper in to the trees. It made few twists and turns, leading him past a beautiful water fall and a large pond. A couple of minutes past this he came across the first person in this place.

He was a large bald man wearing the simple robes of a monk. He was sitting on a rock and looked like he was completely asleep. His eyes snapped open as he approached though. "Who are you boy?" The voice was gravely with lack of use.

"Ranma, I'm looking for someone that's supposed to be here."

"People come and go all the time kid. Why do you need to see him?"

"He's and old friend and I need some advice."

The man grunted. "Who you looking for?"

"Tofu Ono."

The man nodded. "He's still here, has been for nearly a year now."

"Where can I find him?"

"It's up to you to find him kid. If he wanted to be found that easily he wouldn't have come here. Now go." The man pointed to the side of the trail and slumped back down into his original position.

Shrugging again, Ranma turned off the trail and headed into the thick woods. He wasn't worried about getting lost though, ten years on the road gave him a good sense of direction and if he came across any animals he could just blast them. Several yards into the trees he came across another trail, though this one wasn't used as much as the other one.

It curved around several trees and small hills until the forest just opened up into a small clearing. Ranma could even see a little creek moving through the area. It wasn't hard to spot the rather ragged looking individual sitting on a log. A small fire was also burning in a small hole in front of him.

Ranma strolled over and the man looked up. His clothing, a pair of jeans and a dirty shirt appeared to have seen much better days. A thick beard covered his face and he was in desperate need of a hair cut. He frowned for a second, as if trying to remember something, then slapped his thigh and laughed. "Ranma!"

"Tofu, it's been quite a while."

"Indeed, almost a year now. So what brings you all the way out here?"

"You actually, needed some advice and I've found that trusting the two old farts back home just isn't healthy anymore."

Tofu nodded slowly. "I'm not sure I can help Ranma, I've found I'm just a little to unreliable of late."

"You were always good for some advice when you were in Nerima Doc, I don't think now will be any different."

Tofu gave a bitter laugh. "Except whenever K-Kasumi came around. Then I'd completely lose it and end up hurting people."

Ranma shook his head and sat down on the ground across from Tofu. He used a stick to stoke the fire a little. "No one was ever hurt for very long Doc, it wasn't that bad."

Tofu just looked away. "It's why I'm here. To learn control."

"Has it worked?"

"No." Tofu growled.

"Then you need to try something else." Ranma told him. "This isn't like you Doc, not at all."

"I need to learn to control myself Ranma, so that I don't accidentally hurt anyone else."

Ranma narrowed his eyes. "You just need to come to terms with having Kasumi around Doc; this isn't about control at all. You care for Kasumi, that isn't any secret at all."

"I can't work when she's around me!" Tofu yelled as he jumped to his feet.

Ranma smirked inwardly, but didn't let it show on his face. This was a situation where his father's insulting techniques would actually come in handy. He figured Tofu needed to do something other than think about Kasumi all the time. "Yeah right, I've seen you do it Doc, you're just being a coward."

The insult worked like a charm and Tofu dived at him over the fire with a scream. Ranma let his smirk show as he just rolled backward and sent Tofu flying into the air with his legs. Tofu landed in a roll, came to his feet instantly and lashed out at Ranma with a scream.

Knowing better than to get within hitting range of Tofu's fingers, Ranma did a number of twists and dodges that kept him just out of reach, he just needed to keep the man off balance for a few minutes. Ranma even bounced off Tofu's head a couple of times, just like he did with Akane so long ago.

After about twenty minutes Tofu fell to his knees and gasped for air. Ranma just landed a few feet away and crouched down. "Feel better now?"

Tofu just shook his head. "Yeah, as a matter of fact I do."

"Good, now can we talk without all this other crap getting in the way?"

"Sure, pull up a log. You said you needed some advice?" Tofu said as he made his way over to the fire.

Ranma didn't relax completely, he still remembered the time Tofu used that pressure point to make his legs stop working. Akane never let him forget that she had to carry him home either. Once they were settled Tofu used his skills to make them up some tea. "There's a situation in one of the nearby districts where these guys are attacking everyone. There's this group of girls trying to stop them, but they adapt to any kind of attack that's sent at them, no matter how strong."

Tofu sipped his tea and just nodded for him to continue.

"Well me and Ryoga tried to help out, but things haven't been working out as well as they usually do. At the moment Ryoga isn't able to help anymore and this group is able to defend against almost anything I could send against them. The girls are being beaten worse than ever with every attack."

"What kind of group are we talking about here?" Tofu asked.

"Strong fighters with powers of some kind."

"And the girls?"

"The Sailor Scouts." Ranma admitted.

Tofu froze for a second as he heard then name. "Well, that certainly makes this situation a lot more difficult."

Ranma nodded. "I need to find an attack these things can't adapt against, but so far nothing has worked."

"You do have some potent attacks Ranma."

"I know, but this enemy just bats my Ki blasts out of the way. The only thing I haven't had a chance to use on them is the Shoten Ha that the old bat taught me. I've been keeping that in reserve. I've got a couple of versions that I can try, but only if one of the attackers uses either hot or cold energy."

"I see, I think I might have something for you to try, but the book I'm thinking of is back in Nerima."

Ranma was a bit surprised. "Are you kidding?"

"Nope, I've learned a lot of things over the years and come across techniques that I've never been able to master. You on the other hand just may be able to learn anything put in front of you."

"I'll try anything. One of the girls told me that if I didn't come up with something that could stand up to this enemy I'd be dead within the month."

"Let me see, that would be Sailor Pluto?"

"You know her?"

"She's got a bit of a reputation within certain circles. I know of her, but I've never met her before. I had thought she was a myth actually." Tofu said as he gazed into the fire and scratched at his beard.

Ranma nodded. "Me and her don't get along very well."

Tofu just laughed a little. "You do tend to have girls either really like you or really hate you. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground."

Shrugging, Ranma stood up and looked around. "Want to leave tonight? Or head out in the morning?"

"We might as well go now, I need to get home to clean up. I wonder what my mother is going to say. I haven't talked to her in some time."

"Eh." Ranma muttered. "If we start walking now, we can be back by morning."

"Sooner than that. We're going to get on a bus." Tofu explained.

"I don't exactly carry any money around on me doc."

"Not to worry, I've got plenty." Tofu said as he rounded up his few belongings. "We will need to make a stop before we get to Nerima though."

"Where?"

"A place right on the edge of Nerima. An old teacher of mine lives there and he's even more skilled than I am in these things. I also think he might have a copy of the scroll I'm thinking of." Tofu explained as he finished his packing.

oooooooooo

The small shape giggled as it jumped the short wooden fence and headed down the street. Not even half a second later the fence exploded outward. Sailor Uranus and Neptune ran through the gap in the fence, spotted the small monster running down the street and took off after it.

Even at their full speed they had a hard time keeping up with the little monster. It stopped for a second to grab a nearby parked car and lob it at them. They ducked as it sailed by and Uranus fired her attack at the thing. It ripped the sidewalk to pieces and slammed into its back.

She smirked a little as it was knocked off it's feet and tumbled several yards. The two scouts were nearly on top of the thing when it shifted with alarming speed. Neptune only had a second to cry out as she was backhanded off her feet. She slammed into a wall and slumped to the ground with a groan.

Sailor Uranus on the other hand took an even worse hit. The little monster suddenly powered up her own attack and sent it right into her stomach. She grunted as the explosion sent her flying across the street. A large crater formed where she had been standing only moments before.

The little monster grinned at them for a second and giggled. Turing around it broke into a run, but just as suddenly ran head first into a pair of legs. Stumbling back it looked up into the face of a pissed off Ryoga Hibiki. It didn't even have time to move before Ryoga brought both fists down on the things head in a massive pile driver.

With a high pitched scream the thing crumbled to dust. Eyes glowing, Ryoga surveyed the damage to the area and spotted the two girls. He checked on Neptune first. A part of him recognized her uniform, but he'd never seen this particular Sailor Scout before. She seemed to be unconscious but alright.

The other one was in worse shape. Her entire front side seemed to be covered in small cuts and her uniform was nearly gone. There was nothing left to cover her modesty, but her own blood. The old Ryoga would have fainted at this point, but he was different now and wasn't as swayed by such things.

He would have to help them. "What the hell do I do with them?" He muttered out loud.

The blond haired girl groaned, but didn't do anything else. Smirking a little he checked what was left of her clothes for one of the scout's communicators, but she didn't seem to have one. After giving up on that he picked the girl up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack.

Moving back across the street he glared down at Neptune and kicked her foot a few times to wake her up. He really wasn't in the mood for any of this crap, but that wouldn't stop him from helping them. He just needed to kill Ranma and things would be a lot better. For now he could help the girls and they just might lead him back to Ranma.

Neptune groaned and looked up and gasped. "Wha…"

"Your friend is hurt. We need to get her to a hospital or something." Ryoga growled.

"Where's that thing?" She asked as she jumped to her feet.

Ryoga was really starting to like these short skirts. Smirking a little he nodded in the direction of the dust pile in the middle of the sidewalk. "Over there. I caught the freak by surprise and took it down."

The green haired Scout gaped at him for a second then shook herself and nodded. "Right, give me my friend and we'll be on our way."

"No, she needs to got to hospital."

"We have healing magic, she'll be alright in a day or two and doesn't need to go to the hospital." Neptune said.

"Feh." Ryoga muttered and tossed the half naked girl to Neptune. "Whatever. You might want to be more careful next time. You girl's don't seem to be up to the challenge if that monster was all they've been throwing at you."

Neptune glared right at Ryoga as the boy started laughing. He deliberately stomped in the pile of dust as he walked away and vanished around the corner. She sagged a little once he was gone though. Her magic senses had been screaming at her since the second she woke up.

Whoever that kid was he held a lot of power and felt as evil as the monster he just defeated. Uranus chose that moment to snuggle a little deeper into her arms and murmur something about strawberries and chocolate. Blushing, she started running for home so she could help get her lover cleaned up.

High above the scene, standing on a floating rock, Commander Hibera nodded to herself and made several notes. Her prey hadn't shown up. She wondered why these girls seemed to always take care of things. On any other planet, it was usually men that needed to be killed, but here it was the opposite. What was different about this particular planet?

Was her prey as useless in a fight as he seemed? His powers would seem to put him in a position of importance, but he didn't show up to help. Maybe she would need to do something bigger than a Trog. She knew where he was as well, but wanted to take him down during a fight.

Ambushing him sounded boring. That meant she would have to do something more spectacular to capture everyone's attention. Kakome wanted the girl's defeated so she had taken down at least one of them for a few days. There rest of them would be just as easy to take care. The Trogs had the measure of their powers now.

"Time to have a little fun."

oooooooooo

The moon was well above the city by the time Ranma and Tofu reached Nerima by bus. One thing stood out in Ranma's mind though, he would never ride the bus again. He had never been so bored out of his mind in his life. He could have ran the distance in a third of the time. Tofu was just amused by his reaction and told him to learn a little patience.

Ranma huffed. They walked several blocks in silence. As usual the streets seemed to be a maze of houses and businesses, but they eventually reached a small estate. The place was entrenched in the middle of the maze so well that he hadn't even realized they arrived until Tofu stopped in front of an almost hidden gate in the middle of a wall.

"This the place?" Ranma asked.

"Yes, Sensei Kuli's house."

"How did you even find this place."

"Wasn't that hard, you just need to know what to look for." Tofu explained as he opened the gate and they stepped through.

A monk stood in the shadows of the wall on the other side and stepped forward after they entered. "May this one be of assistance?"

Tofu glanced at him for a second before nodding. "I'm Dr. Tofu Ono, I'd like to speak with Sensei Kuli about some obscure scrolls he has in his library."

The man gazed at them for several seconds before touching his ear, listening to something, and nodding. "Who is your guest?"

"This is Ranma."

"Follow me please."

They the area beyond the gate was a well manicured garden of grass and trees full of birds. Ranma realized that he could even hear the sound of a small brook a little ways off and wondered just who this guy was supposed to be. He glanced at Tofu, but the guy seemed to be as normal as always so he just shrugged.

This was a situation that would mean trouble if he was with his old man, but that sense of danger wasn't the same with Tofu so he just followed along to see what would happen. Of course the six guys in hiding among the trees following them didn't bode well, but they weren't doing anything.

"Who is this guy Doc?"

"He used to work for the government, but these days he's retired and keeps to himself. You can sense the guards?"

"Yeah, they aren't well trained, but they're good enough for regular people." Ranma said and their guide nearly tripped over something. Tofu just laughed a little and made sure the man didn't fall.

The main house came into sight a few steps later. It wasn't that impressive, but it spoke of wealth anyway. The guide led them around the outside of the house to a small cave in the back. An ancient man sat on before a small fire meditation. He too was wearing the robes of a monk.

Ranma wanted to snort at all this posturing but a glance from Tofu stopped him. Genma had taught him to be wary of certain types of people over the years and Ranma supposed this guy fit that description. They stopped across from the fire and knelt down. Tofu bowed before the man.

"Sensei, it is good to see you again."

The old man opened his eyes. They were the milky white of a blind man and Ranma had to resist the urge to snort again. "Ono, it has been nearly a decade."

"Yes sensei."

"I'm too old for useless crap, what do you want?" The old man wheezed.

"My friend here needs to see read the Scroll of Lunami." Tofu explained.

The old man's eyes widened completely as he sat forward. "That information is dangerous Ono, why would your student be worthy of that?"

"He's fighting an opponent that adapts to his every move almost as soon as its used."

"This is about that situation in Juuban?"

"Yes Sensei." Tofu didn't sound surprised that the man knew about the situation.

Nothing was said for several minutes and Ranma was about to say something when the old man finally nodded. "The scroll is yours Ono, but it must be used wisely. Are you up for the challenge? For you will find things on that scroll that could help you more than your friend here."

"I'm prepared Sensei."

He waved them off and several minutes later Tofu and Ranma were standing outside the main gate. Ranma was glad to be out of that place. His senses were still screaming at him to get out of there before he died a very gruesome death. After all that he was sure that they were only allowed to see what that old man wanted them too.

"Ready to go Ranma?"

"You trained under that guy?"

"Yep, kind of intimidating isn't he?" Tofu joked.

Ranma just nodded. "So what next?"

"Well we can head to Nerima or find somewhere else to look at this scroll."

"Let's skip Nerima. I won't be going back there any time soon." Ranma muttered as they walked down the street. "I think heading back to Rei's temple will be the best idea. Then I need to track down Hotaru."

"Who?"

"Ah, a niece I didn't know I had until recently. I have to make sure Genma doesn't find out about her."

"Why is that?"

"Her current guardians are rather wealthy and pops is a thief. I don't want him to drain them dry."

Tofu laughed and nodded as he handed the box to Ranma. "Your father was always a little lazy. Here, you look through that and see if you can use any of it."

Taking the box, Ranma carefully opened it to see the yellowed scroll inside. "Let's get to my friend's place so I can sit down and read this. I'd do it here, but someone might see it that shouldn't."

"Sounds like a plan."

oooooooooo

"Come on!" Minako said as she ran down the street.

Behind her, Makoto and Hotaru tried to keep up, but the hyperactive blond was in her element. Makoto could cook better than anyone, Hotaru had her own super cute talents, but Minako could shop like a pro. She knew of all the best places to buy whatever she wanted and right now she had plans, big plans.

So she was a little irritated that Hotaru and Makoto couldn't keep up with her. She would run ahead and have to stop just to wait for them to catch up. So once again she was half a block ahead of her friends when she looked back and saw they weren't there. Huffing, she frowned and stomped her foot.

"Come on, we don't have all day." She snapped.

"Keep your skirt on Mina." Makoto snapped back. "You know that Hotaru can't run like you do."

"Of course she can, it's shopping! Skirts, blouses, and underwear!"

Several guys suddenly looked in her direction and Minako sat up and forced herself to grin. It looked fake, but she kept it up until the three of them were a couple of blocks away. Makoto just laughed at her friend. After knowing her for all this time Minako never changed.

Hotaru just giggled at her friend's antics.

"So Hotaru, got anything you want to buy when we get to the mall?"

"I want to buy some work out clothes for when Ranma gets back. He said he'd start training me now that I've got breathing down right."

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Minako gasped. "

"Oh yeah, how about some spandex?" Makoto suggested, winking at Minako.

The two girls laughed suddenly. Hotaru gave them a weird look then shrugged and continued towards the mall. She wasn't as naive as the two older girls thought she was. Haruka and Michiru talked about the Inner scouts all the time and how some of them acted.

Hotaru was pretty sure that Minako and Makoto were up to something. If her guess was right it probably involved Ranma in some way. Of course she wasn't quite sure what the two girls saw in her long lost relative, but figured they wouldn't hurt him. After all they were always chasing after one boy or another.

The mall was packed with people as they walked towards the main entrance. She had to stop and rest at one of the benches before they went in though. It surprised her that she had made it that distance without taking a break sooner. It made her feel better to know that she might actually be a little stronger because Ranma taught her to breath differently.

"You alright Hotaru?" Makoto asked, a note of concern in her voice. She wasn't used to hanging out with the younger girl for any length of time. Behind her Minako nodded.

"I'll be fine, just need to rest for a few minutes. I normally can't walk that far without stopping several times for rest." She said and gave them a shy grin.

Looking relieved, they pulled her to her feet and they headed into the mall. Hotaru had only been here a few times, so she didn't know her way around. The other two knew the place quite a bit better and headed for the second floor instantly. A few minutes later they were standing in front of a department store bustling with dozens of young girls running around as far as they could see.

"Make up! Clothes! Everything I ever wanted!" Minako crowed as she ran into the store. The other two girls did their best to keep up with the hyperactive girl, but they soon lost her between the jewelry section and the lingerie section.

Still, it only took Makoto a few minutes to make her way over to the sports section. There weren't any girls in the area. Hotaru was thankful for this as she found a foot stool and sat down, gasping for air. "I'll never be able to keep up with you two." She muttered.

Makoto just grinned at her. "You just have to get into the flow of shopping and it'll energize you."

Hotaru just sighed.

The tall girl started grabbing several packages and comparing them with other items. It took Hotaru a couple of minutes to see that she was collecting spandex shorts in various colors. She had to admit that they would probably look pretty good on Makoto with her athletic body.

Minako suddenly came racing over to Makoto. "Look at these! Aren't they the cutest thing!" She held up a very skimpy pair of panties with a little panda on the back end.

"Those are kids underwear Minako." Makoto said, glancing at them. "They are cute though. Want to buy a pair Hotaru?"

"Humph, I'm only a couple years younger than you are Makoto." Hotaru muttered.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't' meant anything by it."

Minako wasn't even slowed down though as she pulled out about five other pair of panties and held them. These were a lot more risqué and colorful underwear. Hotaru wondered why a couple of them didn't seem to have a back side to them. The girl just grinned and blushed.

"Oh! Do you think Ranma would like them?" Makoto asked, giggling a little.

"Who wouldn't?" Minako said and nodded. "I'll save those for later. Now we need to find the perfect shorts, top, and of course shoes. Something we can use but it has to be sexy."

They giggled.

Rolling her eyes, Hotaru got up and started checking out some of the shorts. There were several different styles, but as always she went with black, or in this case gloss black. Makoto noticed her looking at shorts, grinned, and dove into a nearby pile. She came up with a couple pair and hand handed them to Hotaru. "These will be perfect for you."

Behind her Minako nodded and grinned. "The boys are going to get to see just what you have to offer with those things on, even Ranma." Her eyes started to sparkle.

"These aren't my size." Hotaru said as she looked them over. "Their way to small, I won't be able to breath."

"Forget breathing, you want to make a man notice your body, those are the shorts for it. He'll take one look and forget to breath too." She said dreamily and giggled again.

Makoto nodded. "You have to get these a size or two smaller because they are skin tight and will stretch around your waist to highlight your curves."

"I don't want my curves highlighted." She protested.

The girls gasped. "You need to forget that idea right now. Those shorts were made for you! Go try them on!" Minako ordered her.

"I don't think you can try spandex shorts on in the store Minako." Makoto said.

"Of course you can, why would they provide dressing rooms if you couldn't?"

"For dresses."

Minako snorted. "Likely story."

Now Hotaru couldn't help but giggle. These two always made doing things fun and interesting. They were normally wrong and usually ended up being horribly embarrassed, but that never stopped them. Makoto held up a pair of green shorts and frowned. "Maybe we need to get some leotards instead. Men love to see girls dressed like that."

"N-no need to go overboard." Hotaru said hastily. "The shorts are perfect!"

"Hey, a leotard, that's a pretty good idea and they show off curves even better than spandex."

"Where are they?" Makoto asked herself and started looking around.

Now she really wanted to leave. Hotaru glanced around and saw that there were several shirts nearby. She wandered over and started moving through the black ones and found a little half shirt that had in a little built in chest support. Grabbing that, she snuck away from the two girls and grabbed some underwear too.

Living with two lesbians made here quite aware of the different kinds of underclothing that was available. Haruka and Michiru walked around in next to nothing during the night and weren't afraid of being seen like that. Hotaru found what she was looking for a few minutes later.

She heard Minako squeal several aisles over and blanched a little. They must have found the leotards. Bad enough the shorts were going to show things off, a leotard left nothing to the imagination at all. She'd seen girls wear them before. Heck the Sailor uniform was like a padded leotard, just a lot stronger.

"Not gonna wear a leotard." She muttered to herself as she headed off to pay for her items. Of course she hadn't noticed that she was carrying a certain pair of panda panties. Haruka on the other hand would noticed about a week later and tease her for hours because of it.

A few minutes later she was waiting outside, sitting on the bench again, when she heard a muffled noise. Straitening up, she turned to look at the doors when they flew open and Minako came racing out. Her long blond hair streaming behind her. Just a few paces behind her was Makoto, covered in what looked like purple paint.

"Bound for it!" Minako yelled as she raced to the side walk and headed down the block.

"Minako get back here!" Makoto screamed as she chased after her.

"BWHAHAHAHAHAH!" Minako laughed as she held something up. "Never!"

That was when Hotaru noticed that Makoto's top was a little more bouncy than normal, as if she wasn't wearing a bra in fact. She couldn't even keep up with the two girls as they ran and she soon lost sight of them. In a way she was thankful they were gone, she just didn't see what was going through their minds sometimes.

"Hiya kid."

She spun around and grinned. "Ranma."

"What was with those two?" He asked, pointing in the direction Minako and Makoto had run off in.

"They were just playing around mostly." She explained, then noticed the older scruffy looking man behind Ranma. "Who…"

"This is Dr. Tofu, the guy that's going to look at your Ki problem."

The man leaned over and adjusted his glasses. "Hmm…your Ki really is messed up isn't it. This should be a challenge to fix." Hotaru noticed that he had a stick stuck in his beard.

"She can barely get around as it is Doc."

Hotaru nodded, but her nose worked just fine. The strange man smelled like smoke and burnt grass. She wondered where Ranma found this guy and how long he would be around. Hopefully it wouldn't be for long.

Something made Ranma laugh and she turned to look at him. "Wha…"

"Not to worry kid, the doc needs to get home and get cleaned up and then we can start working on your problem. He's been living out in the woods near her for the last few months."

She just nodded.

"What you got in the bags?" Ranma asked.

"Just some shorts and a new shirt, for when we train at the shrine. I needed something I could move around in."

Ranma smiled. "Sounds good. I'll meet you there tomorrow."

"Okay!" She chirped.

"Ranma, we need to get to your mother's place soon if you want to read that scroll tonight. It's rather long."

He nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow Hotaru. Tell Michiru and Haruka I said hello."

"Alright." Hotaru said as they walked down the street.

Sighing, she headed for home and wondered what would happen next. Things had sure been interesting lately.

oooooooooo

To Be Continued...

Notes: Not the most action packed chapter I've ever done, but that was a great place to stop this chapter. Three years ago when I finished chapter four I never planned on having such a long length of time between chapters, but even back then I was starting more stories than I was finishing. So this story and several others went on hold as I worked on some of my other, longer fics. Now this one is active again, but I can't say just how long it will be till the next chapter, only that it won't be that long. I've got the ending pretty much planned out, I just need to manuver things towards that goal.

After this I think I'll work on a new chapter to Playing With Ranma, which I've already got about halfway done as it is. After that, which should be done in a week, I'm going to try and work on Princess of the Moon. Later!

Comments are always welcome!


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